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Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society

Level 2 l Upper intermediate


1 Warmer
Which of these social-media platforms do you use? Which one is the best? Why?
1. WhatsApp
2. Twitter
3. Facebook
4. Instagram
5. Tumblr
6. Snapchat
7. other

2 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers are given to
help you.

surveillance harass espionage bugging acquaintance


spouse stalking browsing nefarious ex

1. An ______________________ is the person that you used to be married to or have a romantic relationship
with. (para 1)
2. ______________________ is the activity of looking at websites on the internet in no particular order. (para 1)
3. ______________________ is the crime of watching and following someone in a threatening way. (para 2)
4. ______________________ is the use of hidden electronic equipment to listen secretly to what someone is
saying. (para 3)
5. A ______________________ activity is evil or dishonest. (para 3)
6. An ______________________ is someone you know a little but who is not a close friend. (para 5)
7. If you ______________________ someone, you keep annoying or upsetting them by criticizing them,
attacking them or treating them in a way that is offensive to them. (para 7)
8. Your ______________________ is your husband or wife. (para 7)
9. ______________________ is the use of secret methods to discover an enemy’s political, military or industrial
secrets. (para 7)
10. ______________________ is the process of carefully watching a person or place that may be involved in a
criminal activity. (para 7)

3 Find the information


Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.
1. How much will a spy camera disguised as a USB charger cost you?
2. How much will a hidden car-tracking device cost you?
3. When did Facebook introduce its ‘timeline’ feature?
4. When did Facebook introduce its ‘take a break’ function?
5. Which three technologies does the text say people are now using for private stalking?
6. When did the ‘techlash’ (an angry reaction to this type of technology) begin?
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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2018


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NEWS LESSONS / Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society / Upper intermediate
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Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
Social-media spying is turning us into 5 Social-media companies don’t often think too
a stalking society much about what happens when things go bad.
When Facebook introduced its “timeline” feature
Keza MacDonald
in 2011, it promoted the idea of making your
13 Febuary, 2018 entire Facebook history available to any new
1 Have you ever opened the Instagram profile acquaintance, demonstrating it with a video of a
of your ex and looked sadly at photos of them happy couple from the time they meet to the time
looking happy with someone else? How about they marry. I straight away thought: what happens
meeting someone new and then browsing their if they get divorced? Facebook offered no
Facebook page to get to know them better? I solution for this apart from painstakingly deleting
think anyone who has ever used social media old posts, one by one. It introduced a “take a
would be lying if they said they had never done a break” function in 2015 to deal with the problem it
bit of harmless “research”. had created around failed relationships. Similarly,
it seems that social-media companies somehow
2 Social media has normalized the kind of did not predict that they were providing excellent
behaviour that would have been called stalking tools for stalkers.
in the past. Think about what you’d have to do
to stare at your ex with someone else in the 90s; 6 In accepting someone as a friend or follower,
you’d have to actually follow them around or even on private profiles, you are usually
break into their house to steal photographs. It is giving them access to everything you’ve ever
easy to imagine how, for a dangerous minority posted. What if that person later turns out to
of people, it could be an easy step from “normal” be dangerous? Even if we waited to approve
social-media stalking to downloading a phone Instagram followers until we felt we knew them
app that listens to their conversations or tracks well in real life, you can never be sure. Ask
their movements. anyone who has ever dated someone who later
started stalking them.
3 Bugging and GPS-tracking used to be so
7 Is Twitter responsible if people use it to harass
expensive that they were only used by
other people? Is Instagram responsible when
governments and private investigators but an
someone uses it to stalk an ex? Should the
Amazon search reveals a hidden car-tracking
developers of spyware also be criminally liable
device for $27 and a spy cam that looks like a
when someone uses it to illegally monitor a
USB charger for $52. These items are sold as a
spouse? These are all questions that need to
“teen-driving coach” or parental-control software
be re-examined. No doubt governments will do
but there is nothing to stop them being used for
that eventually. But they should recognize the
nefarious purposes. Meanwhile, law-enforcement
role they have played in bringing us to this point.
agencies find it difficult to keep up: victims of
The technologies we are now using for private
stalking or online harassment are often told
stalking – GPS tracking, microphone-hijacking and
simply to stop going online, which for a
spy cameras – were often developed and used by
19-year-old in 2018 is like being told not to
governments for espionage or public surveillance.
breathe air.
8 Even if we are now used to giving up our privacy
4 It is comforting to believe that there is a massive
for the limited joys and usefulness of social-
difference between harmless social-media
media platforms, the platforms themselves must
stalking and the kind of stalking that is simply
take responsibility. Since 2016, a “techlash”
criminal behaviour but the gap between the two
has been growing. The tech industry’s short-
is not as big as we think. Twitter, Facebook and
sightedness when it comes to the social and
Instagram have normalized the idea of having
moral implications of its products is the main
access to people whenever we want and slowly
reason for this. To prevent this, tech companies
destroyed the idea of personal privacy. People will have to incorporate more humanity and
have become comfortable with the idea of being foresight into their ideas for the future.
tracked by governments and companies through
their phones, only complaining when they realize © Guardian News and Media 2018
just how much they are being watched. First published in The Guardian, 13/02/18
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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2018


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NEWS LESSONS / Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society / Upper intermediate
CA O
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Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
4 Comprehension check
Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the text?

1. Social media has normalized behaviour that would have been criminal in the past.
2. Electronic stalking using social media began in the 1990s.
3. Only governments and private investigators can use bugging and GPS tracking now.
4. When you accept someone as a friend or follower on social media, you usually give them access to everything
you have ever posted.
5. Developers of spyware are criminally liable if someone uses their products to spy on a spouse.
6. People seem to be comfortable with the idea of being tracked through their phones.

5 Find the word


Find the following words and phrases in the text.
1. a verb meaning look at someone very directly for a long time (para 2)
2. a two-word phrasal verb meaning move at the same speed as someone or something (para 3)
3. an adjective meaning very large (para 4)
4. an adverb meaning very carefully and taking a long time (para 5)
5. a verb meaning remove information stored on a computer (para 5)
6. an adjective meaning legally responsible for causing damage or injury (para 7)
7. a noun meaning failure to consider what might happen in the future (para 8)
8. a verb meaning include something as part of something else (para 8)

6 Two-word expressions
Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make expressions from
the text.

1. social a. control
2. law b. investigator
3. private c. harassment
4. criminally d. enforcement
5. parental e. media
6. online f. liable
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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2018


M W P
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NEWS LESSONS / Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society / Upper intermediate
CA O
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Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
7 Word-building
Complete the table using words from the text.

verb noun
1. move
2. solve
3. behave
4. enforce
5. survey
6. harass

8 Discussion
Discuss the following statements.
• Security cameras are an invasion of privacy and should be banned.
• Stalking is a serious offence and stalkers should always be sent to prison.

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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2018


M W P
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NEWS LESSONS / Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society / Upper intermediate
CA O
H
•P
Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
KEY

2 Key words 5 Find the word

1. ex 1. stare
2. browsing 2. keep up
3. stalking 3. massive
4. bugging 4. painstakingly
5. nefarious 5. delete
6. acquaintance 6. liable
7. harass 7. short-sightedness
8. spouse 8. incorporate
9. espionage
10. surveillance
6 Two-word expressions

3 Find the information 1. e


2. d
1. $52 3. b
2. $27 4. f
3. in 2011 5. a
4. in 2015 6. c
5. GPS tracking, microphone-hijacking, spy cameras
6. in 2016
7 Word-building
4 Comprehension check 1. movement
2. solution
1. T 3. behaviour
2. F 4. enforcement
3. F 5. surveillance
4. T 6. harassment
5. F
6. T
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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2018


M W P
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NEWS LESSONS / Social-media spying is turning us into a stalking society / Upper intermediate
CA O
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