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Saudi Women Monitor Spouses’ Activity with Spyware

Women in Saudi Arabia are randomly loading spyware on the desktops, laptops, and other electronics related to the Internet of their husbands to monitor for unfaithfulness or attempts at infidelity.

Say experts that spyware is referred to any stealthy, malicious PC software which gathers personal information transmitted via the Internet.

Reportedly, the software that Saudi women are using is comparatively costly about SR 1,000 (US$267), however, it seems to be easy to plant while hard to discover. Further for a nation where women are not without reason to fear their spouses' behavior like suddenly marrying a new girl, the temptation of following the movements of a probable errant husband is nothing unnatural.

Nevertheless according to scholars in the Islamic community, this act of spying goes against the Shariah law for, Islam supports privacy protection and the new software undoubtedly violates it outright. Also as per Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdullah al-Shamrani, a religious expert and an Islamic Culture Professor at the Scientific Institute, Shariah law forbids all forms of computer spying. ASHARQ ALAWSAT reported this on July 24, 2009.

Meanwhile at computer software selling specialist firm, Alps Online Company, a moderator of the Internet Abdul-Aziz stated that women accounted for nearly 90% of the organization's sales. Moreover, with the current increase in laptop sales in Saudi Arabia there had been a rise in the sale and purchase of the organization's spyware programs, Abdul-Aziz further stated.

In the meantime, the Saudi bazaar has of late been flooded with companies promoting software for espionage. Notably, unlike ever before, these promotional schemes are being designed for benefiting especially women.

However, companies that promote spyware software normally offer them to corporations, businesses and individuals. They say that most generally an organization uses spyware to track its employees' online activities or a father uses it to know what his child surfs on the Internet.

Nonetheless, the same companies put up ads on Internet forums and social networking websites to specifically promote their software among women. The ads particularly target married women as well as explicitly use phrases like "Monitor your husband's computer" as also "Unlock his password."

Related article: South Korea Becomes Infamous For Being World’s Fifth Spamme

» SPAMfighter News - 8/11/2009

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