The spyware tool is stated to have leaked live-screen recordings of targeted systems to the internet due to an inherent security flaw.

Read the article: https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/cybersecurity/researcher-finds-pctattletale-stalkerware-on-u-s-hotels-corporate-and-law-firm-computers/

Documents reveal that Intellexa, which is run by Israelis but operates outside of Israel's exports regime, presented an ad-based spyware – considered the cutting edge of Israeli offensive cyber. [...] The documents include a demonstration of the Aladdin system, technical explanations on how it infects target devices, and even examples of potential malicious ads – seemingly targeting graphic designers and activists with job offers, through which the spyware will be introduced to their device.

Text: https://archive.ph/IGrTw#selection-1255.347-1255.643

In August and September 2023, Eltantawy’s Vodafone Egypt mobile connection was persistently selected for targeting via network injection; when Eltantawy visited certain websites not using HTTPS, a device installed at the border of Vodafone Egypt’s network automatically redirected him to a malicious website to infect his phone with Cytrox’s Predator spyware. Given that Egypt is a known customer of Cytrox’s Predator spyware, and the spyware was delivered via network injection from a device located physically inside Egypt, we attribute the network injection attack to the Egyptian government with high confidence.

Text: https://citizenlab.ca/2023/09/predator-in-the-wires-ahmed-eltantawy-targeted-with-predator-spyware-after-announcing-presidential-ambitions/

In Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet, Yasha Levine traces the history of the internet back to its beginnings as a Vietnam-era tool for spying on guerrilla fighters and antiwar protesters–a military computer networking project that ultimately envisioned the creation of a global system of surveillance and prediction. Levine shows how the same military objectives that drove the development of early internet technology are still at the heart of Silicon Valley today. Spies, counterinsurgency campaigns, hippie entrepreneurs, privacy apps funded by the CIA. From the 1960s to the 2010s — this revelatory and sweeping story will make you reconsider what you know about the most powerful, ubiquitous tool ever created.

Text: http://surveillancevalley.com/

The Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 2710 (2002)) was passed in reaction to the disclosure of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental records in a newspaper. The Act is not often invoked, but stands as one of the strongest protections of consumer privacy against a specific form of data collection. Generally, it prevents disclosure of personally identifiable rental records of "prerecorded video cassette tapes or similar audio visual material." The act was envoked in 2008 in a class action law suit against Blockbuster Inc. over participation in Facebook's discontinued Beacon Program , which formed part of Facebook's advertisement system that sent data from external websites to Facebook for the purpose of allowing targeted advertisements and allowing users to share their activities with their friends. Beacon reported to Facebook on Facebook's members' activities on third-party sites that also participated with Beacon even when users were not connected to Facebook, and happened without the knowledge of the Facebook user. A similar lawsuit was brought against Netflix in 2009, when it disclosed insufficiently anonymous information about nearly half-a-million customers as part of its $1 million contest to improve its recommendation system leading to the alleged outing of a lesbian mother.

Text: https://archive.epic.org/privacy/vppa/