No Spyware Research Paper

Harlan Coben in an editorial titled ¨The Undercover Parent”(March 16,2008) claims that parents should have conversations about their concerns with teens, and let them know spyware is a possibility. Coben develops and supports his claim by using anecdotes. One example of an anecdote Coben uses is in paragraph one,¨… friends of mine confessed over dinner that they had spyware on their 15 year-old son’s computer so they could monitor all he did online.¨ He also supports his claim because he is giving the parents a decision on if they want to use spyware or not. The intended audience for this article is parents because this article is about protecting your kids while they are online and to prevent bad things to happen. I both agree and disagree

“If you have to spy on your kids, something’s wrong,” says Michael Brody, a child psychiatrist. Is Juvenoia, the fear that the Internet is causing negative effect on children, really necessary? Many adults these days are concerned of teen safety on the Internet, thus proclaiming that monitoring usage of the Internet would benefit both the child and the parent. In the article, “The Undercover Parent”, Harlan Coben explains how all parents should use spyware on their teen’s devices to monitor Internet usage. After an extensive amount of research, I disagree with Coben’s claim. Spyware is not only unnecessary, but also expresses the message: “I don’t trust you.”

One argument that many people mention is that spyware is an invasion of privacy. As a teenager myself, I value the whole idea of privacy. The use of spyware to monitor your child’s computer is on the borderline of invasion of that privacy; however the use of none of it is on the borderline and even beyond the point negligence. Coben mentions this idea of privacy on the internet that, “One of the most popular arguments against spyware is the claim that you are reading your teenager’s every thought, that in today’s world, a computer is the little key-locked diary of the past. But posting thoughts on the Internet isn’t the same thing as hiding them under your mattress.”(Coben 1). In reality, there is no real form of privacy on the internet. What you post there will forever be there and can be seen by anyone no matter how many passwords or locks you put on it. However most teens and kids would still over look this idea and consider the use of spyware an invasion of their privacy, and it can be. If you are monitoring every single conversation your child has, then that’s crossing the line and invading the privacy of your child. There is a difference between being responsible and being nosy. You as a parent are there to look out for dangerous chatter or possible conversations that look and sound concerning. You are not there to listen in on what teacher they hate, or who they have a crush on, or if they’re crying over how a book ended. However, not monitoring at all is practically a form of neglect. Being a parent it is your responsibility to protect your child from the possible dangers of the world, whether it is in real life or online. Providing no form of protection or even checking on your child’s activities online can put them at high risk of getting hurt whether it is emotionally or physically. The dangers are out there and it is worth crossing the border of privacy in

When parents want to know everything their child is doing on the internet, the children feel they are invading their privacy, but in reality they are doing it for their child’s safety. In “The Undercover Parent” by Harlan Coben, he talks about the option of parents installing spy software on their children’s computers to detect any strange activity that could be harmful to their safety. By doing this he explains the many dangers and fatalities that could be prevented, it will also enable parents to feel better about their child’s safety. Some parents do not agree on placing the software on their child’s computers because they feel their kids are responsible enough to use the internet properly, so they refuse to install it (372-373). I agree with Coben that spy software should be installed on children’s computers, but without their knowledge so the software can safely monitor their online activity.

¨The Undercover Parent¨ (March 16, 2008) is a news article written by Harlan Coben that claims parents should sit down with their children and address the possibility of concerns the parents may have about Internet safety and let them know that there is a likelihood that spyware will be installed on their computer. I both agree and disagree with Coben’s claims.

“The Undercover Parent” is an article about whether or not parents should get a software that watches teens and children’s actions on the computer. So should parents of Teens and Tweens go undercover? Harlan Coben, the author of “The Undercover Parent” editorial (19 March 2008) from the New York Times online website claims that parents should have conversations about their Internet safety concerns with their teens and tweens, and let them know that Spyware is a possibility. I agree with what coben is arguing about. It talks about specific details on either giving parents an option on if they should download it or not, so the author writes good things and bad things about it. It's not snooping or spying on your teens. It basically for their safety. If they still had this software in the future, I would get this because everything the author says about this software is very agreeable. I would do it for my

Parents might say that spyware is similar to “stalking” and how they might as well not give their teens any freedom at all. All teens have a right to privacy, but spyware only helps you take a peek into what your teen is browsing. Spyware will not invade a teen’s privacy and is not in any way an invasion of a teen’s intimate life. The purpose of spyware is not to “spy” on them. The purpose of spyware is to responsibly protect your child and to make sure that he/she is safe from harm. Spyware is only used to observe what your teen is browsing; not to interfere with their personal

In Susan Tardanico’s article “Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication”, she expresses her opinion that people have a tendency to hide behind media and create an image of themselves that are not at all what the actual picture is. In the article is a story about a mother who had been exchanging text messages back and forth with her daughter. The daughter sent smiley emoticons and seemed happy to the mother, but later that night, the daughter attempted to kill herself. Tardanico states, “We are more connected - and potentially more disconnected - than ever before.” (pg.1) I agree with Susan Tardanico that social media sabotages communication, but media also creates a dangerous place for its users.

Carolyn Hax's seems to be a very experienced adult that understands how it feels to have your Internet activity watched by your parents but also knows the risks that can happen if your parents don't. Just by this and what she writes in her advice column makes me agree with her on what she wrote. There are three things that I strongly agree on with her. First, is that you should check on your kids every once in a while, I think this is critical because it is your job as a parent to protect your child, also this is one way to let them know you are watching over them and to give them some freedom. Second, I also agree on when she says “Having a parent catch your inappropriate exchange is better than having a school administrator, future employer

Harlan Coben concludes how adolescents should have adult supervision, no matter what do to them being troubled whether, they’re chatting with a friend or simply on the Internet. Coben states how adolescents are constantly in danger on social media because no one is for sure how much danger exactly is out in the endless cyber world. He explains how there are certain individuals out in the world wide web. Some of those individuals could be sexual assaulters, sextual preditors, kidnappers, people with criminal records, and so on. As you can assume Coben surely wants the best for the next upcoming generation.

Adults should know that teenagers will get around any parental blocks, and may get around the spyware program. However, parents should still monitor their teenagers to keep them safe. Children also should know the difference between the internet and keeping things private, because once they post something on social media, everybody can see the post no matter if it is private or not. Coben then goes into the chat with pornography, and he suggests that teenagers can look up pornography and they will be just fine in life. Coben then points out, that parents monitoring is the parent's responsibility because they need to become aware of what kind of drugs or situations their children have gotten themselves into. Coben initiates that parents should watch what their children do on the internet in order to protect them from the dangers of the internet, and they should let the

Parents shouldnt spy on their teens considering that they have personal information on their laptops or computers. If they wanted you to know what was on there laptops they would tell you. Another reason is “if your child is old enough to go on the internet there is old enough to know the dangers”. (Coben 1).

Internet safety has been an extensive issue for children and adolescents since accuse to the Internet has become readily available in homes. With Internet use increasing at such rapid rates and a large proportion of adolescents using the Internet daily, the awareness of Internet safety should be addressed. The term Internet safety can be defined as “the knowledge of maximizing an individuals safety to private information, and self protection from using the Internet”. The impact and influence that the Internet has on adolescent life is far-reaching and research findings by Norris (2007) indicate that one-quarter of the American youth that go online at home, do so in the privacy of their rooms. Additionally, with the recent trend of wireless connections there has been a profound expansion in private Internet usage. The diverse means by which adolescents are using the Internet has become coupled with inherent risks of unsupervised and uneducated use.

Some parents are not aware of dangers of internet that brings to their children particularly making friends through internet. For example, their children might get cheated with someone else on internet and their children will not tell what happen to them when they encounter danger. According to BBC News, a 47 year old man defrauded a 13 year old girl online and asked to meet face to face. Luckily, the girl’s mother found out beforehand or else her daughter might be in danger. From this news, we can see that there internet friends are not always honest and they are more likely to consider as un-trustful strangers. Therefore, parents should concern more about their children, teach them about the dangers of making friends on internet, and avoid them from going out with a stranger.

Privacy is always a concern for any communication exchange carried out online and children often do not understand the risks involved in giving out too much personal information on the Internet. This is of particular worry when such information is given to an individual who your child does not know personally to; they may argue that someone is an online 'friend' but to all intents and purposes that person is effectively a stranger. To many children the online world isn't the same as the real world and they can often behave in a way they would never do face to face, and say things they would never say, leaving them much more vulnerable in an online environment. They may also be less protective of personal details such as their mobile phone number or address, which could have undesirable implications for them.