Spy Review

For parents, making a decision to spy on their kids is not always an easy one. Many struggle with the conscience of not knowing whether to use surveillance which they might see as in the best interests of their kids against the feelings that they might be making unnecessary incursions into their childrens’ lives, especially given kids of today are so much more independent than previous generations.

There is another strong fear some parents go through, which is, they fear their kids eventually finding out which can have repurcussions on a parent-child relationship. Its often an umbiguous line parents have to cross weighing up the cost-benefit of using such techniques.

The two most popular form of surveillance are using tracking devices, which are often done with younger children, though tracking a vehicle driven by an older kid is also becoming rather popular, and of course, tracking the activities of children of almost all ages on their computing activities using key logging devices and software that capture screenshots of what sites they might be visiting and messaging programs.

Here is an interesting article that deals with experience of parents going through such dilemma and coming to a decison.

As I see it, here are some possible for and against reasons that might make surveillance worthy in the eyes of some while against for others.

For:

• It could even save a child’s life. If a parent was to find their child was communicating with people they shouldn’t be which could lead to crime or worse, then the parent could in theory stop it from happening if they confront the child.
• There are lot of adults who pry on young children on the Internet by assuming aliases and identities of kids the same age their targets. There have been many cases of young cildren falling victim online. No doubt, if the kids had been monitored, many of these cases might never have happened.
• It could stop young children viewing adult material on their computers.

Against:

• It can dilute a child’s privacy
• It can cause strain on child-parent relationship if the child detects they are being monitored

I think there are arguments for both sides because, on the one hand, naturally, parents only want the best for their children which can be difficult to understand from the child’s perspective, who wants the freedom to do anything he/she wants.

I don’t think there will be strong objection if a young child had a tracking device put into their bags or jacket, but spying one one older children is tricky. I think a balance has to be struck between surveillance and how aggressive the nature of the surveillance is. However, there is an argument for saying any surveillance is aggressve in nature because it is being done without the subject’s knowledge.

Personally, just because this site deals with surveillance and spy gadgets, etc, does not necessarily mean I am in favour of all out surveillance. I think there is a strong case for taking case by case attitude to these matters. If a child seems very upright and sincere and unlikely to get into trouble, perhaps there is no moral justification for spying on that child (putting a tracking device which is more for safety is another issue alltogether), but in other cases, there might be great justification. It won’t be easy for a parent whose child gets in a lot of trouble knowing covert surveillance might have prevented such a scenario.

If you spy on your children, do it in a way you don’t get caught for having spied on them, seems to be the moral of the story.