From Stasi to Spyware: Old tactics, New Technology

Mercenary  spyware has become the digital counterpart of the surveillance tactics once used by the East German Stasi. What once required wiretaps, bugs, physical surveillance, and a sprawling informant network is now available to any government with a checkbook. Targeting someone can be accomplished in as little as a few clicks. The result? A growing list of abuses in dictatorships and democracies as spyware is used for surveillance, control, and to exercise psychological pressure on politicians, journalists, and activists. The panel discussion will explore how authoritarian surveillance mechanisms—then and now—affect those targeted, how societies should respond, and how we can strengthen solidarity with the victims.