The Citizen Lab

The newly created RESET Scholarship will support women and/or BIPOC @UofT students in political science and is aimed at increasing diversity of perspective and experience in tech and human rights. Please consider donating to help it grow! t.co/ChFtdIjnWa

New reporting shows the RCMP obtained facial recognition software, which broke internal purchasing rules t.co/UFLM70CMJ7

In December 2020, NSO Group stated that it would look into the use of its Pegasus spyware against journalists at Al Jazeera and Al Araby TV and open an investigation “if warranted.”

In the latest from @uoftmagazine: @RonDeibert, @gabriellelim and @jsrailton discuss online disinformation and offline extremism t.co/yTfVKnHLXI

What does the proposed Bill C-11 mean for transparency, access to personal information, and whistleblower protections? @caparsons explains: t.co/KRXyJfIvk6

Despite the continuing violence and turmoil in Bangladesh, Global Affairs Canada gave Canadian tech company Octasic approval to sell and export mobile phone spy equipment to the Bangladeshi government. More from @sienaanstis and @Edin_O: t.co/oPCRT7uZkR

"The Canadian government’s resounding silence facilitates one of the features of the surveillance industry that allows it to operate with limited regulation or accountability: secrecy." - @sienaanstis @Edin_O t.co/oPCRT7uZkR

Join @RonDeibert @MarietjeSchaake @emilyrauhala & Kai Strittmatter for their upcoming @MIGSinstitute panel: From Surveillance to Digital Authoritarianism: Breaking Down Tech and Human Rights Silos t.co/tiwzUVuZju

If you're a journalist, researcher, or scholar interested in algorithmic policing, make sure to check out our FOI portal. We're happy to share what we've obtained from federal and provincial departments and ministries, as well as municipal police services. t.co/KU7JPBqXAS

"I would be deeply, profoundly skeptical of any application of this technology that purports to be able to guess a person’s name on the basis of their face alone" - @lex_is t.co/fvQwNYyIHV

Q: How does TikTok’s data collection compare to Facebook? A: They both collect similar amounts of user data, including device identifiers, technical specifications, network address, & hardware model names. t.co/UDXhpV83mU

Congratulations @RonDeibert on receiving the ISA Canada Distinguished Scholar Award! Given every two years, it honours exceptional scholarship accomplishments and contributions to the development of the study of International Relations in Canada. t.co/qcEy6DpA3X

Citizen Lab researcher @caparsons recently appeared before the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations to discuss issues of national security, governance, and trust with regards to Chinese companies and their technical products and services. t.co/68PoBZ3ltv

Join @jsrailton today at 12:00 pm EST as he discusses how the growing government-exclusive spyware industry is fueling surveillance abuses around the world t.co/hWmXk00URb

NEW REPORT TikTok vs Douyin: A Security and Privacy Analysis t.co/JQMfqHRajM

Consultation w/ @IPCinfoprivacy is a good first step but @caparsons says public engagement is crucial: "The only real risk is that it will reveal either the tools are not working or they're being used with such frequency that the public may be concerned" t.co/iXsUoTfZlR

Canada doesn't have a Huawei problem; it has a 5G strategy problem. Expert analysis from @caparsons t.co/55OWvIG1Wd

ICYMI: @billmarczak discusses the double-edged sword of Apple's increasingly secure environments t.co/Zd8Y4F01VY

"The greater a state actor's ability to infringe [on] our privacy rights and our other constitutional rights, the more robust the mechanisms for prior judicial authorization, oversight and review must be"- @lex_is t.co/kMFOPHazC3

In total, our research identified the government-exclusive spyware deployed in at least 25 countries, exploiting weaknesses in the global mobile phone system to snoop on calls and texts. t.co/KwYlJ0MKfu

The Dissident investigates Jamal Khashoggi's murder, including how his collaborator, Omar Abdulaziz, was targeted with government-exclusive spyware. Join @RonDeibert for a discussion of the new doc and ongoing fights for human rights in the digital age. t.co/TDZfWPGXuq

“There’s a real gap in legal accountability, and there’s so much money in the sector that the incentives are just not there for companies to change the way they’re doing business"- @jon_penney t.co/dhfk7IdqZn

“WeChat needs to be viewed as a key component of the Chinese government's infrastructure of control, not just as an app that connects people and offers conveniences but is subjected to censorship and surveillance"- @RonDeibert t.co/FoLoG2kmte

On January 27, join @RonDeibert as he discusses the biggest challenges facing civil society, the environmental impacts of our digital lives, and how we can take back the Internet t.co/GyVvQUK2D4

"Time to save the internet" Read @FT @johnthornhillft review of @citizenlab director @RonDeibert's new book RESET t.co/qKIB3z8MCT

According to @lotus_ruan, the Chinese government’s aim is “to create a state-approved version of the collective memory of the coronavirus pandemic for the public." t.co/KXNHBVEbRg

"A book destined to become one of the 21st century's seminal political texts...a call to arms for citizens..." Read @NeilMackay's review of @RonDeibert's RESET in @heraldscotland t.co/dUF107Qo9S

NEW REPORT: "Unmasked II: An Analysis of Indonesia and the Philippines’ Government-launched COVID-19 Apps" by @citizenlab: t.co/ydetb47dHB by @2Pellaeon, Jeffrey Knockel,, @irenepoet, Stephanie Tran, Justin Lau and @adamsenft