The Undercover Parent Analysis

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“The Undercover Parent” In “The Undercover Parent,” Harlan Coben’s thesis is that Parents should have spyware on their child’s electronics. He thinks parents should do this so they can protect their child from any dangerous people online, and also from watching explicit content. Coben also explains how it is a good idea to let your child know that spyware is an option so they have a chance to stop anything they know you won’t approve of. His explanation of how spyware works is: “If you put spyware on your computer, you have the ability to log every keystroke your child makes and thus a good portion of his or her private world.” Coben also explains how easy it is to download spyware because some parents make the excuse of not knowing how to download it onto their computer. He also presents his topic by stating real world situations to persuade parents. “Not long ago, friends of mine confessed over dinner that they had put spyware on their 15- year old son’s computer so they could monitor all he did online.” I agree with Coben’s idea of …show more content…
I believe a parent should only download it if they are concerned with where their child is all the time or who they’re always with. I also disagree with the statement: “Some will say that you should simply trust your child, that if he is old enough to go on the internet he is old enough to know the dangers.” I disagree with this because your child may have an idea of what’s on the internet, but they should not be expected to know everything on the internet. I think the spyware is necessary only if the parent has concerns about their child’s safety. They don’t need it to be spying on everything else they're doing that may not be inappropriate. I believe every child deserves privacy unless they break that trust. I also think some parents will over use the spyware system to look at their child’s friends or any friendly private