Skip to main content

Combing through someone's phone could lead to end of relationship -- or not

For some people, the thought of their partner, friend or colleague snooping through their phone, reading their texts and emails, is an automatic deal breaker. However, some relationships can survive the snooping, a new study examining the motivations behind phone snooping has found.
Researchers from UBC and the University of Lisbon recruited 102 individuals and asked them to recall a past situation in which they accessed the phone of someone they know, or someone they know accessed theirs. Participants were asked to describe the events leading up to the incident, how the snooping was conducted and what happened to the relationship afterwards.
Out of 46 participants who provided information about relationship outcomes, 21 said that the relationship eventually ended while 25 said the relationship survived the prying.
"In cases where the relationship ended, it was either because the phone owner felt their trust was betrayed or the relationship was also experiencing difficulties. Another main reason was the relationship was not that strong or important to begin with, as was the case with two work friends where one stole valuable contact information from the other's cellphone," said study author Ivan Beschastnikh, a professor of computer science at UBC.
If the relationship survived, it was because the friendship was mostly solid and the victim considered it important enough to overlook the offence, Beschastnikh said.
"In such cases, the victim explained away the snooping by considering it as a sign that they should reassure their romantic partner about their commitment to the relationship. They ended up excusing the behaviour and, in some cases, continued to give the other person access to their phone," he said.
Participants also mentioned a few different motivations for snooping on their friends or partner's phones. Many cited jealousy and a desire to "control relationships with others." Others wanted to pull a prank, or to use the stolen information for financial gain or other nefarious purposes.
Participants were all residents of Europe, Canada or the United States, and about 60 per cent were women. They were enlisted using the online research platform Prolific.
The study, while small, is the first to provide detailed information on motives and outcomes around phone snooping from the point of view of those who were directly involved, say the researchers, who previously studied unauthorized access to Facebook accounts.
"The fact that people snoop is widely known, but we know much less about exactly why they do what they do, and about the eventual impact on their relationships," said Beschastnikh. "This study contributes new insights to that discussion straight from those who have experienced snooping, and hopefully prompts more research down the line."
The findings also highlight the critical role of human factors in digital security, added study co-author Konstantin Beznosov, a professor of electrical and computer engineering who studies the human and social aspects of cybersecurity and privacy.
"It all comes down to who you allow to use your phone, whether you trust them or they trust you, and what the parameters for your relationship with them are," said Beznosov. "Given that partners, kids, friends and colleagues can easily observe or guess your PIN and other types of passcodes, you can restrict access to your phone with biometrics identification, which is available on most phones and hard to circumvent."
Not too surprisingly, the findings show that the prime time for snooping is when the owner takes a shower or bathroom break. So if you don't trust the people around you, take your phone to the bathroom with you, suggest the researchers.
The study, "Vulnerability & Blame: Making Sense of Unauthorized Access to Smartphones" was presented earlier this month at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems conference.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of British Columbia. 
Note: Content may be edited 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dark matter may be older than the Big Bang

Dark matter, which researchers believe make up about 80% of the universe's mass, is one of the most elusive mysteries in modern physics. What exactly it is and how it came to be is a mystery, but a new Johns Hopkins University study now suggests that dark matter may have existed before the Big Bang. The study, published August 7 in  Physical Review Letters , presents a new idea of how dark matter was born and how to identify it with astronomical observations. "The study revealed a new connection between particle physics and astronomy. If dark matter consists of new particles that were born before the Big Bang, they affect the way galaxies are distributed in the sky in a unique way. This connection may be used to reveal their identity and make conclusions about the times before the Big Bang too," says Tommi Tenkanen, a postdoctoral fellow in Physics and Astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University and the study's author. While not much is known about its origins,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Home births as safe as hospital births: International study suggests

A large international study led by McMaster University shows that low risk pregnant women who intend to give birth at home have no increased chance of the baby's perinatal or neonatal death compared to other low risk women who intend to give birth in a hospital. The results have been published by  The Lancet 's  EClinicalMedicine  journal. "More women in well-resourced countries are choosing birth at home, but concerns have persisted about their safety," said Eileen Hutton, professor emeritus of obstetrics and gynecology at McMaster, founding director of the McMaster Midwifery Research Centre and first author of the paper. "This research clearly demonstrates the risk is no different when the birth is intended to be at home or in hospital." The study examined the safety of place of birth by reporting on the risk of death at the time of birth or within the first four weeks, and found no clinically important or statistically different risk between home...
Post a Comment
Read more

GSAT-11 satellite to be launched from French Guiana on Dec 5th

GSAT-11 satellite to be launched from French Guiana on Dec 5th GSAT-11 would be located at 74 East and is the fore-runner in a series of advanced communications satellite with multi-spot beam antenna coverage over Indian mainland and Islands, ISRO said. GSAT-11 is the next generation “high throughput” communication satellite configured around ISRO’s I-6K Bus. (PTI/Representational). Indian space agency ISRO is scheduled to launch GSAT-11, the “heaviest” satellite built by it, on-board Ariane-5 rocket of Arianespace from French Guiana on December 5. Weighing about 5,854 kg, GSAT-11 would play a vital role in providing broadband services across the country, and also provide a platform to demonstrate new generation applications, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. It is the “heaviest” satellite built by ISRO, the space agency said. GSAT-11 is the next generation “high throughput” communication satellite configured around ISRO’s  I-6K Bus, and it...
Post a Comment
Read more