Someone is touting a mobile, PC spyware platform called Dark Caracal to governments by Iain Thomson.
From the post:
An investigation by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and security biz Lookout has uncovered Dark Caracal, a surveillance-toolkit-for-hire that has been used to suck huge amounts of data from Android mobiles and Windows desktop PCs around the world.
Dark Caracal [PDF] appears to be controlled from the Lebanon General Directorate of General Security in Beirut – an intelligence agency – and has slurped hundreds of gigabytes of information from devices. It shares its backend infrastructure with another state-sponsored surveillance campaign, Operation Manul, which the EFF claims was operated by the Kazakhstan government last year.
Crucially, it appears someone is renting out the Dark Caracal spyware platform to nation-state snoops.
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The EFF could be spending its time and resources duplicating Dark Caracal for the average citizen.
Instead the EFF continues its quixotic pursuit of governmental wrong-doers. I say “quixotic” because those pilloried by the EFF, such as the NSA, never change their behavior. Unlawful conduct, including surveillance continues.
But don’t take my word for it, the NSA admits that it deletes data it promised under court order to preserve: NSA deleted surveillance data it pledged to preserve. No consequences. Just like there were no consequences when Snowden revealed widespread and illegal surveillance by the NSA.
So you have to wonder, if investigating and suing governmental intelligence organizations produces no tangible results, why is the EFF pursuing them?
If the average citizen had the equivalent of Dark Caracal at their disposal, say as desktop software, the ability of governments like Lebanon, Kazakhstan, and others, to hide their crimes, would be greatly reduced.
Exposure is no guarantee of accountability and/or punishment, but the wack-a-mole strategy of the EFF hasn’t produced transparency or consequences.