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Love apps erode trust [Global Times](Global Times Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) More and more lonely people are seeking romance online.There are websites, social media platforms and smartphone apps, all of which claim to be able to take the hassle out of dating. These sites list all the details of a prospective mate that one might want to know: their age, their height, their profession, their taste in music, in movies, in food, their religious beliefs, their sporting allegiances, and their dating histories. Some even have built-in compatibility tests, providing you a shortlist of candidates that a computer algorithm somewhere determined would be your perfect match. But these days, there are also apps that will help you not only to start a relationship, but also to find reasons to end one. For a while now, computer hacking has been a necessary skill on any private detective's resume. Whether it is investigating a suspected cheating spouse, or a senior government official, you'll get a lot further if you have some rudimentary skills in tapping into their online communications. Now however, if you suspect your loved one of doing the dirty with someone else, you don't even need a private detective. There are apps that will do the job for you, giving you the equivalent of a sophisticated tracking and bugging system for $1.99 or less. These apps run the whole gamut of a private detective's bag of tricks, from being able to track someone's location remotely through GPS to spying on their SMS messages, emails and private Facebook messages. Some of these apps, like the aptly named "Cheating Spouse How-To Catch," are even able to retrieve messages that have long since been deleted. Most of these services require the consent of the person who is being spied upon, usually in the form of an "accept" message that is sent to the user's phone. But how hard is it for a jealous or suspicious spouse to simply take their partner's phone for two minutes while they aren't looking, and press "yes" to the consent message?Such apps make me wonder what the world is coming to. Internet or not, the idea of dating is to try to find someone to love and share your life with. Perhaps the Internet has made it easier to find people, but it has also made people a lot harder to trust. This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times. (c) 2014 Global Times. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |