Would you snoop on your spouse?

A survey by Oxford University has found that many married couples are using technology to spy on one another.

The research involved 2,000 couples, who were asked various questions about how they use the internet and what they would be happy for their partners to look at online.

A sneaky 20 per cent of respondents admitted to having checked their partner's emails, while 13 per cent said they have looked at the browser's history to find out what websites their spouse had been surfing.

Unsurprisingly, the survey found that 97 per cent of those surveyed would be unhappy if their partner fell in love with someone else via the internet and 89 per cent would not be pleased if their other half talked about their relationship woes with others.

However, more romantically, it was also discovered that 19 per cent exchanged emails with their partner weekly and 14 per cent would chat with each other via online messaging services.

Oxford University Internet Institute director Bill Dutton said: "This study is a dramatic illustration of the potential for the internet to reconfigure social relationships."

According to Beta News, the rise of online dating has resulted in a growth of romance frauds, in which the perpetrator lures the victims into sending money by making them believe that they are in love.