Global spyware industry will expand despite scrutiny

Significance

Public and political scrutiny of the surveillance-for-hire industry has intensified ever since the Pegasus scandal broke last year. This has been aided by efforts by several large technology companies to prevent both the abuse of their platforms by surveillance actors and investigations by watchdogs and human rights organisations.

Impacts

• Lines between legitimate and malicious surveillance will increasingly blur, and ethical decisions will fall to end-users in the short term.
• Regulation, at least initially, will likely lead vendors to obfuscate their activities rather than become more transparent.
• At-risk individuals such as journalists or political opponents will seek personal cybersecurity tools to protect themselves from spyware.