[peteretep]

You seem to think that "malware" sounds worse and somehow more specific than "stalkerware". Stalkerware sounds like a more nefarious subset of malware, and I'm not sure what conflating a more specific term into a less specific one achieves

[segfaultbuserr]

why not just "spyware"?

Am I getting too old?

[TeMPOraL]

I might be slightly younger, but under the meaning I remember, almost every website today would qualify as running spyware. Google Analytics is spyware.

This kind of stalker app reminds me of remote administration tools. They had another name, I don't remember what it was.

[krageon]

A RAT was frequently packaged in/used together with a trojan. Perhaps that's what you were thinking of.

[kingbirdy]

Different connotations, I think - I don't consider spyware to be targeted, it's more of a "send it to everyone and hope you get some juicy info on someone", whereas stalkerware makes it clear it's for specifically targeting individuals.

[watwut]

Different tools and uses and implications.

Spyware informs third party that is mostly not relevant about your actions. It is bad, but does not imply loss of freedom or physical danger around.

Stalkerware allows person who knows you personally to, well, stalk you. It implies more immediate threat to both freedom, privacy and physical safety.

[peteretep]

Could do. I guess I’d associate that with mass surveillance against many targets who aren’t know to the attacker? Stalkerware felt sufficiently evocative