The Citizen Lab

In the two years since heightened calls for democracy in Hong Kong began, thousands of images have been censored on Chinese social media. From calls for international support to memes, no image of the movement is off limits.

JOB POSTING: Interested in the technical, legal, and/or policy aspects of censorship and surveillance? Apply to work with the Citizen Lab as part of the @OpenTechFund Information Controls Fellowship! Deadline: June 30 t.co/WHcBp68rmd

Congratulations to @RonDeibert and all nominees who were shortlisted for the @writerstrust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing! t.co/GpzaqTXGG5

The latest from Citizen Lab fellow, @jon_penney, looks at the chilling effects of digital surveillance and proposes a unified theory to better understand how we are deterred from fully expressing ourselves online.

How does the UN’s latest effort to secure cyberspace fall short? t.co/rIe6iXNgFE

From helping His Holiness the Dalai Lama to becoming the target of a private-intelligence firm, @RonDeibert reflects on 20 years of @citizenlab work t.co/giKQc3cYmv

Recently, NSO Group extended an invitation to meet and discuss our concerns about their ongoing spyware abuse in more detail. We do not believe this invitation is made in good faith and have declined. Here’s why:

When we talk about personal data, we're really talking about human rights. Unfortunately, by focusing on consumer interests, proposed Bill C-11 misses the mark and inadequately addresses the privacy needs of everyone in Canada. t.co/VyIohu7ujo

RESOURCE: Annotated bibliography on transnational digital repression How do states exert pressure on citizens living abroad in order to constrain political action that threatens regime stability or social and cultural norms? Read more: t.co/bjDBWXN6jW

Join @citizenlab senior researcher @jsrailton along with @lindsaysfreeman @epiraces for a conversation on the #BerkeleyProtocol. Details below 👇👇

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