Last week, we held a showdown between books and eBooks to see what had the most readership in the past six months. And guess what? MakeUseOf readers favour eBooks by a pretty big margin.
From the 328 votes collected, the split was: 38% predominantly read eBooks; 20% only read hard-copy books; 21% predominantly read hard-copy books; 20% only read eBooks; while another 2% hadn’t read any books at all.
Full results and this week’s poll after the jump.
Overall, nearly 60% prefer to read eBooks over hard-copy, while 40% prefer to read hard-copy over eBooks.
This week’s poll question is: Would You Read Your Partner’s Email?
You may have read this story in the news recently. In brief, a guy was worried his wife was having an affair and she had left the password to her Gmail account in a booklet beside the computer. So, he used the password to log in to her Gmail account and confirmed she had been having an affair. There’s more to it than that, but we’ll leave it there. The question is, would you do it if you thought you had a good reason?
What are your thoughts on this case? Would you have thought it was a crime to read your partner’s email? If you would normally not read your partner’s email, is there anything which you would consider a good enough reason to read it? Let us know in the comments!
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I go with never… I don’t even like reading my own emails.
Excellent reasoning. :)
I’d better not ever catch ANYONE in my business!!
Yes I already am doing it!
I would no more read my wife’s emails than I would listen to her phone calls. If she is going to tell me something, she will, otherwise, it is her business.
Getting arrested is a big deterrent. :)
The only problem I’ve really noticed with sharing email is that sometimes you accidentally find out what they’re buying you for Christmas or birthdays. But that can easily happen when you share bank accounts too.
lol, we mostly choose what we want for xmas or whatever.
Getting arrested though – where on earth do you live? You can’t get arrested for reading your partners emails! Surely they would have to press criminal charges – and even then it’d be laughed at in court! At least, in the UK it would be thrown out. In america… well. No comment.
Everyone seems to think this is an issue of trust, but if you truly trust them and have nothing to hide then why not read their emails? Or rather, let your partner read yours, too.
Getting arrested is a big deterrent. :)
The only problem I’ve really noticed with sharing email is that sometimes you accidentally find out what they’re buying you for Christmas or birthdays. But that can easily happen when you share bank accounts too.
lol, we mostly choose what we want for xmas or whatever.
Getting arrested though – where on earth do you live? You can’t get arrested for reading your partners emails! Surely they would have to press criminal charges – and even then it’d be laughed at in court! At least, in the UK it would be thrown out. In america… well. No comment.
Yes, it’s in the US. “Felony computer misuse”? I get the impression from the PC World story that the prosecutor is a tad overzealous.
What makes me laugh is her comment :
“The guy is a hacker. [The computer] was password protected, he had wonderful skills, and was highly trained. Then he downloaded them and used them in a very contentious way.”
Which is rather besides the point, since the woman left her password sitting next to the computer. You don’t need highly trained wonderful hacker skills to enter a freely available password into an online email account. The prosecutor honestly sounds like a complete computer / internet idiot. Oops, I’d better watch out. She might charge me with felony computer insults.
And I note the trial starts today! We should watch out for his inevitable conviction.
@James – Read the story which started this whole discussion. Apparently, you might be able to get arrested for reading our partner’s email in the US: http://www.pcworld.com/article/215030/Husbands_E_mail_Snooping_May_Lead_to_Five_Years_in_Prison.html
@Mark – I love it too. Yeah, he’s such a hacker for being able to read a password and enter it into a website. Highly trained. Mph.
Yes, it’s in the US. “Felony computer misuse”? I get the impression from the PC World story that the prosecutor is a tad overzealous.
What makes me laugh is her comment :
“The guy is a hacker. [The computer] was password protected, he had wonderful skills, and was highly trained. Then he downloaded them and used them in a very contentious way.”
Which is rather besides the point, since the woman left her password sitting next to the computer. You don’t need highly trained wonderful hacker skills to enter a freely available password into an online email account. The prosecutor honestly sounds like a complete computer / internet idiot. Oops, I’d better watch out. She might charge me with felony computer insults.
And I note the trial starts today! We should watch out for his inevitable conviction.
never,
you may find something that make you happy, or hurt you much,
i rather know less
never,
you may find something that make you happy, or hurt you much,
i rather know less
So true. :)
@James – Read the story which started this whole discussion. Apparently, you might be able to get arrested for reading our partner’s email in the US: http://www.pcworld.com/article…
@Mark – I love it too. Yeah, he’s such a hacker for being able to read a password and enter it into a website. Highly trained. Mph.
No, privacy matters
Maybe…I wouldn’t do it unless there were life or death circumstances involved.
My husband is extremely secretive, which stimulates my curiosity
That’s got to be annoying! :)
My partner does it to me all the time. Just today again actually. We are in a long distance relationship and it seems like I am not allowed to have any private life whatsoever. We’ve been together three years now and my little boys father passed away in September. He read an email this evening that I had sent to my bearevement councellor and completely went off on one because he read that I missed my little boys dad – we were together for nearly 12 years. He told me he “couldn’t compete with a dead guy” – I guess he should stop trying! Come to think of it, maybe I should do and end this relationship. Surely your allowed some snippet of privacy!
Harsh. But yes, if there’s no trust it’s rather difficult to have a good relationship. Good luck with that.