3 ms·
People need to stop calling it (just) stalkerware and call it what it obviously is: malware. It's no different from any other form of malware. Just the criminal
by meowface 7y ago
People need to stop calling it (just) stalkerware and call it what it obviously is: malware. It's no different from any other form of malware. Just the criminals are probably people you know rather than online opportunists.
- Dylan16807 7y agoI think 'stalkerware' sounds much worse, so I'm not sure how that helps.
- meowface 7y agoThat's why I added the "just". Call it stalkerware for the general public, and malware in a criminal or technical context.
- peteretep 7y agoYou seem to think that "malware" sounds worse and somehow more specific than "stalkerware". Stalkerware sounds like a more nefarious subset of malware, and I'm not sure what conflating a more specific term into a less specific one achieves
- segfaultbuserr 7y agowhy not just "spyware"? Am I getting too old?
- peteretep 7y agoCould do. I guess I’d associate that with mass surveillance against many targets who aren’t know to the attacker? Stalkerware felt sufficiently evocative
- kingbirdy 7y agoDifferent connotations, I think - I don't consider spyware to be targeted, it's more of a "send it to everyone and hope you get some juicy info on someone", whereas stalkerware makes it clear it's for specifically targeting individuals.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoI might be slightly younger, but under the meaning I remember, almost every website today would qualify as running spyware. Google Analytics is spyware. This kind of stalker app reminds me of remote administration tools. They had another name, I don't remember what it was.
- krageon 7y agoA RAT was frequently packaged in/used together with a trojan. Perhaps that's what you were thinking of.
- watwut 7y agoDifferent tools and uses and implications. Spyware informs third party that is mostly not relevant about your actions. It is bad, but does not imply loss of freedom or physical danger around. Stalkerware allows person who knows you personally to, well, stalk you. It implies more immediate threat to both freedom, privacy and physical safety.
- DoreenMichele 7y agoStalkerware specifies the malicious intent. It helps clarify what the problem space is.
- meowface 7y agoThat's why I added the "just". Call it stalkerware for the general public, and malware in a criminal or technical context.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]