Escaping Big Brother (or Your Ex) - counter surveillance for women’s shelters (38c3)

Maintaining privacy and security when those closest to you is exploiting the worst of surveillance capitalism and patriarchy to pwn you is a user case no one planned for. Or should Big Tech have known better? Gender-based violence has existed in all societies and centuries, but in the 21st one the digital arena is proving to be especially tricky for victims. When (primarily) women leave their abusive (primarily) male partners or family members they often have to leave behind everything and make a clean break - including from their digital identities. This is way easier said than done. (Ever tried unsubscribing from.. anything?) Surveillance capitalism has further exacerbated this challenge, as stalker-ware is becoming increasingly prevalent and easy to use, if not a default feature. Stalking As A Service is of course already a thing, and why should you watch someones house in the rain all night when you can let your Tesla do it for you? Lost your wife? Hide an AirTag in the lining of her bag and have two billion iPhones keep track of her across the planet. Apple won't tell. It's almost like society is fundamentally misogynistic and internet accelerated the opportunity for patriarchal control..? This talk shares experiences working with women's shelters and training victims as well as activists and professionals in cyber security and opsec. The situation's bad and it's getting worse, fast. Digital violence, or gender-based violence using digital means, is expressed in control and abuse. Control of finance, social life, the children, the photos, the conversation, relationships, life. Emotional, sexual, financial, psychological abuse - online. Mark Zuckerberg is not the first stalker to creep the Earth but probably the first to become a billionaire scaling his methods and monetizing his crimes. Sharing war stories of practical feminist threat intel with literally lifesaving tech, Elin has advised women's shelters how to protect their clients and Escape Big Brother in Sweden for the past couple of years. This includes perverse exploits, institutional failures, psyops, and how any and everything can be used against you - if the threat actor is persistent enough. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 about this event: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2024/hub/event/escaping-big-brother-or-your-ex-counter-surveillance-for-women-s-shelters/