Spying on Your Kids
MYFOXNY.COM – Imagine being able to record and monitor every digital move your teen makes from text messages to emails. High-tech surveillance software turns parents into cyber sleuths, giving them the ability to digitally see it all. But does new surveillance software empower concerned parents or turn them into intrusive cyber spies?
A mobile app called eBlaster mobile can secretly be installed on a child’s phone and send Mom and Dad copies of every text sent and received, including digital pictures. The app is available for either Blackberry or Android phones. Once installed on the mobile device a parent wants to monitor, the program goes into “stealth mode” and is practically undetectable to the teen who is using their cell phone.
It’s digital eavesdropping technology that would expose a teenager’s formerly private digital world to parents prying eyes. And while most teens will dread this technology, many parents will be drawn to it.
SpectorSoft created the app, and the company has similar spyware designed for computers. Parents can install SpectorPro without a child knowing it and use the software to monitor online chats and web surfing. The software records hundreds of digital snapshots of the computer screen and compiles them into a visual log that parents can scroll through to see what a teen has been up to on the computer. The program also has a built-in dictionary that searches for and deciphers acronyms or codes kids use in chats. For example, if a parent comes across a word like ASL in recorded chats, the program will reveal the letters stand for: Age, Sex, Location.
The company claims the program can decipher hundreds of acronyms and cryptic codes:
GNOC = GET NAKED ON CAM
RUH = ARE YOU HORNY?
420 = marijuana
Dr. Jeff Gardere, Fox 5 News contributing psychologist, has some concerns about spying on your kids.
“When do you draw the line when you go from being concerned parent to being a stalker of your kids,” Dr. Gardere says. He thinks parents who want to use this type of software need to be honest with their kids if they plan on installing it on their computer or cell phone.
Otherwise, Dr. Gardere says if a child finds out his or her parent has secretly been spying on them it could have serious repercussions.
“They will feel betrayed and feel major issues of trust from that point on between you and that child,” he says.
Both the eBlaster mobile app and SpectorPro computer monitoring software can be found here:
Well, I haven’t decided yet what is the right move in this case. I am a mom and I want to know what my children do, but my children are little (3.5 years and 5 months old). I am so protective and I want to save them from everything that is out there in the “big world”. However, I am not sure when they get about 15 or 16 years old I still would love to know about everything what they do. I feel that as children grow we have to let them do their own things; we have to give them a certain amount of privacy. How much is a certain amount of privacy? I don’t know. I guess it is different with every child. Some kids are so naive and they need protection even from themselves, others are mature enough to handle any situation.
Seeing a report like that I am wondering what kind of relationship parents have with their children if they want to spy on them? Buying an app and install on their kids’ phones without telling them, then follow every text or e-mail? Shouldn’t we build a trusty relationship with our children by a certain age? If this is the way to protect a child there must be some serious issues in that family. Blocking certain websites on the computer might be OK, but secretly monitoring them is a creepy idea. As the psychologist said in the report if a parent would do this with a child, that child would never trust that parent.
Is selling an app like eBlaster a good business? Marketers come up with the weirdest ideas just to take money out of people’s pockets. I would like to know who buys this app and actually how much profit it makes. Probably a spy app will not be the best selling product on the market. I think this is an example how we should not use the “amazing technology”.
The statistics on who actually consumes Facebook the most is astonishing. Parents should be worried about their children and the internet. Seven and a half million Facebook users are younger then 13. Five million are under 10. Consumer Reports found a majority were unsupervised. These parents can’t possibly think Facebook is that safe. Last year alone more then five million households in the U.S. showed some type of abuse; Including viruses, identity theft and bullying. Parents should be aware of whats going on on their child’s Facebook and various online accounts. Facebook says you must be over 13 to create an account, however by simply putting a factious birth year a child younger then 13 can create one. If they don’t approve of their child having a Facebook there is a form Facebook offers to report an underage child. I think parents should be monitoring their children’s online activity. Did everyone forget about the “how to catch a predator” show? When children’s information is all too accessible who knows who is looking at it and how they will use that information. I don’t necessarily think its about knowing everything a child does but more of making sure they are protected from others. I’m not saying it would be okay to secretly log into your child’s account (like 1 out of 10 parents admit to doing according to this chart) but more towards talking it out with the child and making sure the child is aware of the dangers of the internet.