What do we think about when we hear the word “eavesdrop”? What does it mean to us? In today’s society, this term is used when someone is secretly listening to another person’s conversation. Another word for this term is overhear, be it intentional or unintentional. Now we wonder how this word came about and how it evolved overtime. During the Kentish Charter of 868, this term was used to refer to the water that fell from the eaves of a house. During that period, before the invention of guttering, roofs were made with wide eaves or overhangs so that rain water would fall away from the house to stop the walls and foundations being damaged. This area was known as the eavesdrop. The large overhang provided good cover for those who wished to lurk in the shadows and listen to the conversations of others. Since the area under the eaves was considered part of the householder’s property, you could be charged under Anglo-Saxon law with the intention of spying and fined for being under the eaves of someone else’s house. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word eavesdrop was chiefly  used with reference to the ancient custom or law which prohibited a proprietor from building at a distance less than two feet from the boundary of his land, lest he should injure his neighbor’s land by ‘eavesdrop.’ Is eavesdropping ethical? We are all guilty of it at some point or another. However, as human beings, we do have certain ethical standards that we live by. Eavesdropping is the obtaining of information without the consent or knowledge of the people communicating it; some would say that it can be a form of stealing. Eavesdropping In America, there is an ongoing debate about the government using various methods to find out more information both internally and externally. Different methods to gather such information are employed, such as wiretapping and through the use of other eavesdropping devices. Eavesdropping is known by s