Spyware and it’s underlying play in divorce

Divorce has become a very common thing among married couples. It is said that about 40

to 50 percent of those who are married get a divorce in the United States. Divorce is something

that is done through a wide span of time depending on how it’s done, but a lot of emotional,

mental, and physical health is involved in it. During this process, many things could happen such

as, rekindling the love that was there, separation, family relationships broken, or spying. Most of

these are going to occur and is what you expect to happen when a divorce has come about in a

marriage. Although, not many think about how spying can come into play. Aarti Shahani and

Lauren Silverman have written “I Know Where You've Been: Digital Spying And Divorce In

The Smartphone Age” from NPR news, published on January 4th, 2018. This article speaks

about a spouse who has experienced spying and how this has become an underlying part of

divorce.

Spying doesn’t seem to come up as much when you hear about a divorce. It’s something

that is not spoken of as often, and those that come across this article may be spouses who have

been violated in this way, but find comfort in knowing that they are not alone in their experience.

Throughout the article, the authors begin to explain how spying is on a very thin thread of being

legal and illegal. This thread became so thin that no one wants to become involved to justify and

help these victims. When married, and not officially divorced yet, a couple may have both names

under multiple things they own at that moment. This makes spying not as illegal as others may

think now because if a GPS tracker were to be on a car, it is legal for that person to “keep track”

of where that car is going. Which technically, is legal for the spouse to do in that case. But what

they show in this article is the fact that not many lawyers want to get close to cases where

spyware is installed in computers or phones. This is because it becomes very complex and they
could be criminalized for helping a client who wants or has already violated this law. As they dig

deeper into how the discovery of spying is found in divorce, they realize how there have only

been about two cases that have made it big in court with this specific problem.

In this article, Aarti Shahani and Lauren Silverman have exposed the lack of work or

importance towards spouses who have been and are being spied on during or after their divorce.

They have been able to do this because of the quality job done by using ethos, logos, and pathos.

They’ve been able to put the reader in the shoes of the main interviewee, which is named “M”,

for safety purposes, who had thought she was safe from her ex-husband, when really she’s been

violated of her privacy and not much can be done for her. The story of this spouse in their article

gives them a strong ethos and pathos because she has experienced this first hand with how

helpless and sensitive her rights to privacy are, even when reported to the police. Logos was

shown through the author's own research and facts given of how high spyware is common in

divorces.

The authors chose just the right phrases from their interviewee to give a fulfilling pathos

in the article. M fearfully and clearly states, “I am now fully aware that all of those times that I

thought I was keeping myself safe, all of those times that I was leaving town, all of those times

that I was staying in different places, staying at friends' houses, I never was safe." This makes the

readers empathize with her and has the audience thinking of how this could simply be or become

themselves without knowing. They fully show how terrified M is because of the invasion she had

when her mechanic recently found a GPS tracking device on her front left tire. This gives the

audience a sense for justice because of the feeling M profoundly expressed, fully supporting the

authors pathos in this article.

because they are being told the story first hand. They state her story saying, “After discovering

the GPS tracker at the mechanic, she went directly to the police precinct to give a statement.”

Shahani and Silverman have been told the raw and truthful story in and out, telling of M’s first

experience of going to the police after finding spyware and state, “He tells NPR, prosecutors

would not prosecute because the car was jointly owned; if it belongs to both of them, the ex had

a right to track it.” M completely felt helpless, knowing that she was being tracked but couldn’t

protect herself in any way. M becomes more personal and tells the authors of how her ex-

husband has harassed her digitally by showing a message he sent her saying, “‘I know all of the

ways you've described me to your friend.’ She says snippets of how she described him were then

forwarded to her as a text message.” This gives the author's credibility because of her experience

and story being told.

As for logos, Shahani and Silverman have their own research done on victims of

spyware. The authors give the statistics stating, “Stalking victims in 2005 and 2006 found that

electronic monitoring of some kind was used on one in 13 victims.” This has the audience think

of those they know who are divorced because it could be happening to one of them right now.

The authors go on to say how these victims don’t find justice or are pushed back because they’re

told to simply throw the device away or find a new phone/computer. They later on speak with

one of M’s lawyers who explains some lawyers will take the evidence of stalking/spying

occurring, but most say no because they want to stay away from such a tricky case. This statistic

and background information of what goes on, gives the author’s logos of how divorces are

affected by spyware and what is actually done to help these people.

ethos, and logos. The intell from M’s story has the audience empathize with her, even if they

haven’t experienced it personally. Going about the article ethos is shown because of the

information the author’s receive on behalf of M and her firsthand experiences with spyware in

her own divorce. And as they go on, logos is presented from the research done by the authors and

show how not only is M experiencing these things, but others as well. The injustice shown

through her story and how the justice system pushes aside cases involving spyware, shows the

real lack of support and help for these victims.

Word Count: 1174

Shahani, A., & Silverman, L. (2018, January 04). I Know Where You've Been: Digital

Spying And Divorce In The Smartphone Age. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2018/01/04/554564010/i-know-where-y

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