Good call on reading the comments and getting angry. I think my whole day has actually been ruined. Why am I always shocked and appalled when I read comments like that? You'd think by now I wouldn't be surprised...

Wait, who doesn't like Cheaters?

That was terrible. And the comments was sickening, though there were some people who were standing up and calling out the B.S. It seems that no matter what bad thing happens to a woman, getting raped or getting beaten, it's her fault.

Wired had an article this morning that I think is similar, at least as far as someone taking information you wrote and using it against you. Spock search thinks you're a pedophile.

Some people definitely need to realize that just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Gwuh. This victim blaming crap has to end. If a drunk guy at a bar took a swing at the guy next to him, no one would question the assault charge. No one would go "well, he could've ducked, dumb bastard." Why should this be any different?

Just...ugh. The comments were, for the most part, utterly repugnant.
Also, I'm shocked that the word 'feminist'is an epithet that is in some way equivalent to rapist or abuser. It's okay to dislike these things as long as you aren't a feminist? What the FUCK? Did I miss a memo?

I read (some of) the comments. I'd rather know what people are doing out there than not. It's like going through the looking glass to Bizarro World.

What's so bad about Cheaters? I mean, I KNOW what's BAD about Cheaters, but in terms of embarassing people on Camera for cheating it seems a pretty equal opportunity offender to men and women alike. In fact I'd wager that men end up getting slightly more of the Cheaters treatment than women do.

I've heard that a lot of Cheaters is staged, just like a lot of reality programming. But that's neither here nor there.

It was appalling to see that right out of the gate, so many commenters took that article to be "propaganda" meant to paint ALL men as abusive and violent. Or that the article was calling for the outright ban of all spyware technology. It seemed to me that it was an awareness raising article meant to alert people to the abuse of this technology.

Ummm, didn't the article also say that a lot of the things the spyware does are illegal? And stalking is definitely illegal. And it's unethical to spy on people, especially your spouse. We do have a right to privacy in this country, whatever one of the idiots in the comments thinks.

So where is it a bad thing to ban that software, again? I don't see it.

We were forewarned about the comments, but nothing prepared me for what I read. The anonymity of the internet makes people free to share whatever ignorant ass moron statements that pop into theier head without reprocussion. It makes me very upset to know that there are people out there who feel this way, I almost feel sick.
Yeah, I promote the "feminist agenda," what of it?

One of the more entertaining comments was the one who said something along the lines of, "It's not a feminist thing, it's a women-being-equal-to-men thing!"

What exactly did she think feminism was? Oh, right. Feminists want to rule the world and have men as our slaves. How silly of me to forget.

"But the legal action hasn’t slowed the use of spy technology in abusive relationships"

Um, duh. At what point did abusive spouses start worrying about things like the law?

Folks, the jig is up. They know about our vast feminist conspiracy. Now we won't be able to get away with destroying men anymore. *rolls eyes*

FYI your password is one of the best defenses you have against spies. Make sure you use strong passwords. And make sure to use different passwords for different accounts.

I first saw this on FARK and made the mistake of reading the comments there. Comments regarding women are vile all over the intertubes. That's why there's Feministing. They should change the name of this blog to "Women-Being-Equal-to-Men-ing"

I read this article a few days ago at work and realized that a GPS system is probably how my psychotic ex boyfriend used to conveniently appear wherever I was, usually preceding slashed tires, broken windshields, a black eye, or a pillow over the face. And that was all after I dumped his nasty ass. Yes, indeed. Even after I moved, I still found him biking up my cross street. At 3am. On a Tuesday. That was three years ago, and I still look over my shoulder when I leave the house. I sincerely hope that women take that article very seriously, and I wish it had been around before Psycho McPsychopants decided to become insane.

You know what was really worse than Cheaters? That show John Waters (who I love) had where wife murders were dramatically reinacted and then he would come in and say a few puns.

It was advertised as being equal husband/wife wife/husband murders (Jon Stewart specifically asked) but it was not!

I am completely blown away that an abuser can some up with the most intricate ways to abuse a victim. What's even more amazing is that yesterday, on yahoo, an advice columnist, who happened to also be male, was telling women to spice up their relationships by making their men jealous. He wasn't advocating kissing or obviously flirting with another dude. But he thought it was a great idea to manipulate the guy's imagination. Then I read this article, and some guys really don't need the manipulation. /sick

I almost wish I'd taken the advice not to check the comments on that article. So much ignorance, so little time! My 'favourite' was one commenter who asked, "couldn't she call a hotline or the police or something?" Oh, if it were only that simple. When I was a teenager and I called the police because my father's psychological abuse went up a notch to physical abuse, being taken seriously was a joke. I also had to fill out a bunch of paperwork at the station, including a particular section guaranteeing that I hadn't incited him to violence. I basically had to have it in writing that I hadn't said anything like, "Go on, hit me then!" ...so I had to take responsibility for my own victimhood in that case. Age 16. Silly me, I thought it was a parent's responsibility not to torment and beat their own child! Kind of makes you not want to bother with formal channels of justice.

Reading the comments, it becomes clear how many people are *still* uninformed, misinformed, or just plain ignorant about domestic violence situations. As well as what feminism does and does not stand for. I can only hope that the prevailing attitude of 'blame the victim' is based on extended exposure to bad information and not the conclusions of analytical minds.

"What about people that are installing spyware on your personal technologies to track what you do and who you call? This includes GPS monitors in your car and spyware on your computer to even tracking your cell phone calls."

The article uses the word 'your' without really thinking it through. You are perfectly entitled to install spyware on a computer that you own and a GPS system in a car that you own. And in a marriage most property is jointly owned and people are entitled to use their spouses goods. This is much more complicated than is being made out, some uses of these technologies may be perfectly defensible.