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In the popular Netflix series Your, a stalker accesses his girlfriend’s text messages by stealing her phone. (To the misfortune of viewers, she cannot desynchronize the lost device from her iCloud account before replacing it.) Later, install spyware on your neighbor’s phone to read its text messages and track his whereabouts. While it would be nice to pretend those people don’t exist in real life, stalkerware is a serious problem. In fact, a woman whose partner installed stalkerware on her phone told a British publication that Your It was “terrifyingly accurate.”
Now Google is making it harder for people to spy on loved ones and ex-boyfriends. Starting on August 11, the search giant will ban ads in most stalkerware applications.
Once installed, stalkerware allows users to spy on target text messages, call logs, photos and videos, location data, and what they type on their phone (yes, including important passwords). While some apps require the stalker to have physical access to their target’s phone, that’s not always the case. Some allow a user to send a link to their target that is camouflaged as harmless. Once clicked, the link downloads stalkerware to the device.
Many stalkerware applications are already banned from the App Store and Play Store, making them more difficult to find. That’s where Google’s ad ban comes into play: Companies promoting stalkerware applications can no longer redirect users to third-party sources where their services are available.
A February survey by software company NortonLifeLock found that one in 10 Americans has used stalker software to control their partner or ex. The results can be terrifying and life-threatening. In 2019, the BBC described how a woman’s husband used surveillance software to track every move. That same year, someone told MIT Technology Review that, with the help of a stalkerware application, her boyfriend “knew where he was at all times, who he was talking to via email, text messages, social media, all of that” . I could see everything. I had no privacy. “
Stalkerware has reportedly emerged during the COVID-19 crash. Internet security company Avast says it has seen a 51 percent increase in stalkerware use between March and June. According to CyberScoop, the California-based company Malwarebytes reported a 190 percent increase in stalkerware detections on customer devices since the crash began. Avira’s director of protection and quality assurance laboratories, Alex Vukcevic, told CyberScoop: “When many countries started announcing the closings, we see a parallel between that and the [stalkerware] installation fees. “
Unfortunately, Google’s updated advertising policy contains a gap. It prohibits “the promotion of products or services that are marketed or directed for the express purpose of tracking or monitoring another person or their activities without their authorization.” But it doesn’t include private investigation and child monitoring apps, which can also be used for bullying. A 2018 study warns of “dual-use” apps, which are advertised for non-malicious services, but can be easily reused by stalkers. A BBC article from October 2019 warned that many stalkerware companies advertise their products as “parental control” or “employee monitoring” services.
As Ars Technica points out, “the popularity of ‘dual-use’ apps, as described by the study, also means that Google’s ban on stalkerware ads has no effect, as many tracking apps already claim to have a legitimate use for parents or researchers. “
Future Tense is an association of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
