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We’ve all heard of the dangers of privacy invasion on the internet, or via phone hacking, but what about an invasion of our personal space from inside the home, from those very loved ones you think you can trust? A recent study from Retrevo – a large consumer electronics and shopping website – claims those closest to you are far more dangerous to your privacy than most outside hackers are.
Indeed, the report, which polled 1000 people through an online survey, shows that virtual spying and gathering of personal information is more often done by the people you know.
The top three spies closest to home, according to Retrevo are ; boy/girlfriends, married couples and parents with more than a third of respondents admitting they checked a boy/girlfriend’s email or call history on the sly. 37% of married couples admitting to spying on their spouses and the same number admitted to digitally spying on their children.
The number of under 25 year old couples checking up on each other’s digital life has also apparently spiked this year, from 38% in 2010 to 47% in 2011. Women purportedly have more of a tendency to sneak a peek at their partners call history than men do, the report claims.
Tracking devices and GPS systems inside phones have added a whole new dimension to keeping an eye on those you love, said Retrevo, with the survey indicating that although 68% said they wouldn’t dream of keeping digital tabs on loved ones, a worrying 20% said they would. Men and women were fairly evenly split on the issue of tracking when it came to spying on their partner, but parents seemed far more willing to consider tracking their children.
After all, what better way to avoid an argument with your teen than by secretly placing a digital tracker on them, rather than calling them to bug them about their whereabouts every few minutes? Indeed, 59% of parents said wouldn’t at all mind tracking their kids, and that number rose to even higher percentage levels when it came to parents of teens. Mothers, said the report, also worried marginally more about tracking kids than fathers did.
So next time you worry about the government, or rogue journalists hacking into your emails and voicemail, perhaps you’d be better off protecting your phone and computer from those closest to you – in your own home.
