EFF’s Threat Lab is dedicated to deep-dive investigations that examine technology-enforced power imbalances in society. In 2022 we’ve sharpened our knives and honed our skills in an effort to bring down the stalkerware industry, taken aim at invasive surveillance by police, raised red flags around the security and privacy of daycare apps, developed new tools and techniques for reversing android malware, and taken part in coalitions to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Our crack team of technologists and researchers issued FOIAs, guided policymakers, pushed back against big tech, and dissected hardware and software to achieve these goals.
Here we highlight some of the achievements that made 2022 such an eventful year for Threat Lab.
Combating Surveillance
Our Atlas of Surveillance project surpassed a major milestone, documenting over 10,000 instances of police tech programs across the US. Shining a light on these programs was bittersweet, reminding us that this transparency also reveals just how expansive and widespread advanced technologies employed by police departments across the country have become. A collaborative effort between EFF and the University of Nevada Reno’s Reynolds School of Journalism crowdsourced thousands of distinct mini-research tasks to students to achieve this milestone.
Cell-site simulators are one such technology employed by law enforcement. Sometimes called “Stingrays,” these devices use a small, mobile transceiver to masquerade as a cellphone tower, tricking phones into connecting to it instead of the legitimate tower, and allowing location tracking and even potentially interception of communications from everyone in a certain area—not just those suspected of a crime. Alongside Threat Lab’s efforts to reveal cell-site simulators (CSSs), dozens of
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