The Spies and Stalkers of Surveillance Capitalism

A brief note on content for today's episode, we are going to be discussing or mentioning stalking, domestic abuse, and sex trafficking in today's show.

If you’re a threat actor with a million dollar budget targeting high ranked targets like dissidents, activists, journalists and politicians, how do you do it? What if you’d like to stalk your neighbor, or your ex?

In this episode, Proofpoint security research engineer, Chris Talib discusses high-ticket mobile spyware, the proliferation of low-cost stalkerware, surveillance capitalism and why he believes technology can’t solve social problems.

Join us as we discuss the following:

• Mobile spyware tools
• The impact of low cost stalkerware
• Moral and ethical implications of developing spyware
• The role of governments,organizations and activists in protecting citizen’s right to privacy

Resources:

• https://www.laquadrature.net/en/
• https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2020/09/german-made-finspy-spyware-found-in-egypt-and-mac-and-linux-versions-revealed/
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2023/04/06/sex-traffickers-use-parenting-apps-like-life360-to-spy-on-victims/?sh=110a6e2464c3
• https://www.eff.org/
• https://tacticaltech.org/
• https://defensive-lab.agency/
• https://echap.eu.org/