44% of people in a couple believe that their partner checked their cell phone without consent

Leaving the cell phone on the table and going to bathe is a typical opportunity that thousands of Argentines have taken advantage of to “check” their partner’s smartphone. How common is this situation? A lot, according to one recent survey Conducted by a company specialized in technology and security that discovered that almost half of Argentines who say they are in a loving relationship –43% of men and 44% of women– “suspect” that their partner has checked their phone in a surreptitious way.

The work commissioned by the company Avast, specialized in the development of security software for devices, investigated these issues in a sample made to more than a thousand adults in Argentina. On average, 44 out of 100 respondents said they “suspected that her partner had checked her cell phone.” Another piece of information that complements this situation: the number of those who responded anonymously confessing: “Yes, I have accessed my partner’s mobile device without permission”, arrived in Argentina at 35%. And the element that confirms the grayness of this situation is another 24% of users who confessed “not being sure” if their mobile had been “checked” by their life partner, without consent, of course. On the other hand, two out of five interviewees admitted having discussed about something you enjoy on your other half’s device.

One point that arouses curiosity is what indications made a person suspect that their smartphone had been “compromised”. In 39% of cases it happened simply because the “repentant” of the intrusion confessed. And one in three people to whom it happened was because they had surprised her partner with, literally, their hands in the dough, or rather, on the screen.

According to Javier Rincón, regional director of Avast, “searching someone’s phone without permission it’s not acceptable, regardless of the type of relationship you have. And it constituted another piece of information: “The results of our survey showed that the people who realized that their partner had manipulated their cell phone was because some of the original definitions were changed and they found something different in the configuration.” Another form of confirmation of this suspicion, according to the survey, occurred when discovering that the partner knew some private data or information that came to the “spies” and that he had not shared. There were even cases of users who, checking their smartphone, found a new application that they had not installed and that they could be using as a form of control.

An interesting detail is that not all the people who reviewed a foreign device of close affection had to do it with special stealth: the thing is 42% already knew the password because your partner had shared it in the past. And a third said they did not need it “because the smartphone was not protected with a pin.”

What happened among those people who enjoyed being spied on but chose not to confront their partners with it? 31% stated that they did not as they wanted to see “if it was a one-off incident”. But one in 10 (11%) responded that she had not brought it up out of “fear of an argument.”

According to mabel whitedirector of the Foundation for the Study and Research of Women (FEIM), if this kind of espionage is discovered, the thing to do is change keys and then analyze how to present the fact to the partner. “Because this has happened it’s not normal nor does it imply that he loves you more. And he added: “You always have to be careful of reprisals and not allow the slightest gesture of aggression.”

Another striking point in the survey had to do with questions that revealed what happened after the discovery or confession that the spouse’s device had been searched. In 22% of the cases the situation led to a verbal aggression. In 4% in a physical aggressionwhile in 15% of cases the relationship ended.

For Bianco, “from a feminist perspective, it is understood that accessing the phone without consent is something that men do. And it is an indication that this man does not respect the privacy of the female partner. It is, then, a matter of care for women because there are personalities obsessed with infidelity and in the face of minimal elements they can become violent and, due to their obsession, they have no limit. Since men reacted more violently than women, the injuries they inflict are more severe. The fact of checking the cell phone secretly and without consent should not be allowed, it is a violation of the woman’s privacy, ”she concluded.

How to detect “spy” applications

as commented PROFILE Marcela Palero, a computer specialist and postgraduate professor on cybersecurity issues, “I think that, in the private sphere, if two people agree on that situation, it’s fine. But what should never be forgotten is take precautions so that someone we do not want to access our device does not access it ”. That implies, for example, “setting an access pin. Additionally, many messaging apps have settings that let you know which devices were used and the time they were last accessed. In other words, there are options that could help, or rule out, suspicions”. Some applications”spiesthey can give indices of his presence. For example, a mobile device that has an unexpected and sudden drop in speed, with more frequent freezes. Also certain changes, such as a new home page, new icons, a different default search engine, or other minor changes that have not been made by the device owner. Finally, receiving strange messages, the sudden opening of many pop-up windows or error messages from previously working programs can also indicate the existence of spyware.