Women in Saudi Arabia are randomly loading spyware on the desktops, laptops, and other electronics related to the Internet of their husbands to monitor for unfaithfulness or attempts at infidelity.

Alps Online Company told Spamfighter that women accounted for nearly 90 per cent of the organization's sales in Saudi Arabia It said that as laptop sales have increased in the country, sales of the outfit's spyware programs have also grown.

Popular is software worth US$267 which is easy to plant and hard to discover. Apparently the reason is that women in Saudi Arabia are worried that their spouses could suddenly marrying a new woman. But the tradition has created a storm in the religions community which says that this act of spying goes against Shariah law.

Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdullah al-Shamrani, a religious expert and an Islamic Culture Professor at the Scientific Institute said that Islam supports privacy protection and the new software undoubtedly violates it outright. Also Sharia law forbids all forms of computer spying.

Apparently you can get most of the software at the Saudi bazaar has of late been flooded with companies promoting software for espionage. Most of the promotional schemes have been targeted at women with phrases like "Monitor your husband's computer" as also "Unlock his password."