@TheSnowFairy
The latest thing is the updating of agreements that allow all the major software companies to keep a sample of your voice on record.
They are very sneaky about it - it is why you are regularly asked to OK a new agreement whenever there is an update to an app or a piece of software such as a web browser. The agreements are always updated to the benefit of the big companies and not for our benefit.
The software companies are adding more and things in those agreements, that no one reads, giving them permission to record a great deal about you in their databases and to literally access the hard drives on your smartphone or computer.
They know who your friends and family are because, simply, most of us have given permission for them to access and store our contacts. From that they work out a intricate web of where you live, work, who you know and interact with, what your hobbies are and how you live your life.
They know your darkest secrets and fantasies if you have ever expressed, investigated or searched for those dark secrets or fantasies online.
This information is hugely valuable to Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft, amongst others, but the rammifications for things such as health, home and car insurance are enormous. Been ordering too many burgers or pizzas online in the past week - how long before your insurance premiums reflect that. Or driving with your smartphone in your car with every turn, twist and what speed you are driving at being reflected in your premiums?
It has huge implications for the cost of living in the years ahead and, more importantly, for free speech and democracy.
What if you want to run for political office in a few years and you have views that are critical of certain vested interest groups such as big business - wouldn't it be useful to silence you with a mere reminder that a record of every website you have ever visited might fall into the hands of the Press?
Don't get me wrong - there are benefits to all of this technology. I like it that when I order something from Amazon that Google alerts track my delivery all the way from Amazon. Or that when I am a certain distance from home Google tells me how far it will be to walk and when the next bus is due.
But the technology is bringing all sorts of dangers as well as the good.
Coming back to the original post of this thread. I have, as the internet has grown and become part of our everyday lives, seen vast numbers of men AND women use the technology to cheat on their partners. I see it in the workplace all the time where people use their corporate accounts during work hours to access social media either using their own names or aliases.
I have seen vast amounts of visual and written pron, racist materials and other nasty stuff downloaded by men AND women, of all ages and all social backgrounds, to work computers.
My professional role has given me a very interesting insight into people and what a great many people are doing online, when they think few if anyone knows what they are doing, is often completely diifferent to the persona that they present in their everyday lives.
But I am also now seeing more and more couples wrongly think that a partner is cheating simply because most people do not fully understand how this technology works and how it regularly has glitches. None of it is perfect but it is worrying how bugs in software, written by 20-somethings on the other side of the planet, can lead to loving partners doubting and worrying over whether their partner is cheating.
If ever in doubt, talk to your partner and do not rely on evidence solely from a piece of technology.