Packet-sniffing techie uncovers spousal infidelity

[RawGutts]

Technology has been instrumental in ending yet another long-standing relationship. Hot on the heels of tales of a woman who blames a bug in Firefox for exposing the flaws in her relationship with a fianc? and a man whose relationship was hit by the spam filtering shortcomings of Thunderbird, comes the story of a software programmer who unearthed evidence of his partner's infidelity using Ethereal, the packet sniffing software.

Len Holgate usually writes about Windows software development and programming in C++. But in a break from the norm he recently wrote about how he installed (with some difficulty) a packet sniffer on his network after becoming suspicious that Michelle, his partner of 17 years, was cheating on him.

"The sniffer provided me with evidence that Michelle had been having an affair since mid-January. I confronted her and we decided to try and see if we could 'work it out' during our ski trip to Colorado. During the trip I decided that the relationship couldn't continue and so on our return she moved out. We're currently doing the separation of assets thing. We hope to be able to remain friends. Since I don't hate her, I figure that nobody else is allowed to," Len writes.

The coder offers the following sage advice to the less technically adept: "If you plan to use technology when cheating it's probably best to understand the technology involved better than the person that you're cheating on," he adds.

We'd add that if you maintain any kind of relationship you might want to throw out your computer and mobile and invest in an abacus, if recent Reg stories (and a thread on digg.com generated by Len's post) are anything to go by. ?

Credits: The Register

[ToneKnee]

Thats going a bit too far.

[Jordan M.]

^agreed

[Colin-uk Veteran]

Good on him, im glad he found out.

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Amen. Cheating is just so wrong - glad she got caught.

[mikey]

His wife was lying and cheating on him. I dont think he went too far

[ToneKnee]

I suppose its a bad thing on both fronts.

[ShaneSparky_YYZ]

I suppose its a bad thing on both fronts.

Agreed :yes:

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

ahhh sad, cheating is bad :(

[ToneKnee]

Her cheating on him (anyone for that matter) is bad, but spying on them is also bad :\ so *shrugs*

[Panacik]

That is disgusting! I have heard of kinky things before, but sniffing your missuses packets is just disgus.... Oh Network IP packets. Oh well yeah, good on him :D

[Japlabot]

Ok so he used Ethereal, but I dont understand.... Where does Firefox and Thunderbird's spam filter come into this?

[macstorm]

Thats going a bit too far.

no way, I'm glad she got caught ;)

[Zirus]

how can you get all that info from a packet sniffer?

[j005u]

how can you get all that info from a packet sniffer?

IM packets or e-mails would be my best guess.

[KnicksTape]

for those of you who have had a woman you would know that no matter how much u feel something is going on the girl will deny it and if u accuse her of something she will go off n give u the line "oh, so you dont trust me?" so imo he did the perfect thing ive been in his place recently and cheating is bad whats the point of being with someone especially for 17 years and then cheat? after 17 years she should be able to sit down with him and talk as adults and express how she feels.

[madnuke]

When nerds know someones cheating they result to programing for the answer!

[NEVER85]

Ouch. I've been cheated on before, but I never found out THIS way.

[Rudy]

Thats going a bit too far.

how???

[kaptain chump]

for those of you who have had a woman you would know that no matter how much u feel something is going on the girl will deny it and if u accuse her of something she will go off n give u the line "oh, so you dont trust me?" so imo he did the perfect thing ive been in his place recently and cheating is bad whats the point of being with someone especially for 17 years and then cheat? after 17 years she should be able to sit down with him and talk as adults and express how she feels.

But thats the thing. The people that say "oh that's wrong" have never been cheate on before. I fully support that man's efforts to discover the deciet of his wife.

[Marshalus Veteran]

It's her fault for cheating on him.

[Inplode]

Thats going a bit too far.

Hell no im glad she got busted ! cheaters suck

[chopyaedoff]

Strange :laugh:

[foxconn287]

She should be killed for being unfaithful. :woot:

[ryan420]

i'd smash her head in with a rock and she wouldnt be getting any assests