208. Stalkerware: The Stalker in Your Pocket

<p>Welcome to Halloween month at Goddess of Technology!</p><p>Your smartphone knows where you go, whom you contact, what you search for, which photographs you take, and how you communicate. That makes it extraordinarily useful. It can make it extraordinarily revealing, too. </p><p>In this podcast episode, we’re exploring stalkerware and digital surveillance: software and technologies that can transform an everyday device into an instrument for monitoring another person’s private life.</p><p>We’re examining what stalkerware is, how consumer surveillance technology evolved, why stalkerware presents a distinctive cybersecurity challenge, how digital surveillance affects human behaviour and psychological safety, and why an attacker does not necessarily require advanced hacking skills when proximity, trust, physical access, or existing knowledge provides another route into a person’s digital life. </p><p>Most importantly, we’re learning how greater digital awareness can help you strengthen your privacy, protect your autonomy, and make more intentional decisions about the technologies that accompany you through your life.</p><p>Goddess, I would love to hear your perspective. Have you ever discovered that an application, account, device, or location-sharing feature had access to more information about you than you expected? </p><p>E-mail your opinion or, if you feel comfortable doing so, your personal experience to <a href="mailto:coucou.goddess@gmail.com"><u>coucou.goddess@gmail.com</u></a>.</p><p><br></p><p>REFERENCES</p><ul><li><p>Chatterjee, R., Doerfler, P., Orgad, H., Havron, S., Palmer, J., Freed, D., Levy, K., Dell, N., McCoy, D. and Ristenpart, T. (2018) ‘The Spyware Used in Intimate Partner Violence’, <em>2018 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy</em>, pp. 441–458.</p></li><li><p>Citizen Lab (2019) <em>The Predator in Your Pocket: A Multidisciplinary Assessment of the Stalkerware Application Industry</em>. University of Toronto.</p></li><li><p>Electronic Frontier Foundation (2020) ‘Watch EFF Cybersecurity Director Eva Galperin’s TED Talk About Stalkerware’.</p></li><li><p>Federal Trade Commission (2019) ‘FTC Takes Action Against Stalking Apps’.</p></li><li><p>Federal Trade Commission (2021) <em>Stalkerware: What To Know</em>.</p></li><li><p>Levy, K. and Schneier, B. (2020) ‘Privacy Threats in Intimate Relationships’, <em>Journal of Cybersecurity</em>, 6(1).</p></li><li><p>National Network to End Domestic Violence (2019) ‘The National Network to End Do