The Citizen Lab
@citizenlab
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The Citizen Lab is an academic research group at @UofT focusing on the intersection of technologies, human rights and global security.
Toronto, Canada
Joined April 2009
OPINION: "Canada's new Minister of AI must not be naive to its harms" @RonDeibert's latest oped in @globeandmail Read it here:
theglobeandmail.com
AI is not just being deployed to expand human understanding, but to systematically subvert it as well
"A tsunami of AI-enabled disinformation is already upon us, polluting the public sphere and seeping back into the language models that AI systems feed upon. What to do?" My new piece in the @globeandmail 👇
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See here for the Citizen Lab report on #Paragon referenced by @RonanFarrow:
citizenlab.ca
In our first investigation into Israel-based spyware company, Paragon Solutions, we begin to untangle multiple threads connected to the proliferation of Paragon's mercenary spyware operations across...
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Looking forward to #sector2025 where I'll be giving a briefing on @citizenlab investigations and some of our related adventures as outlined in my book "Chasing Shadows". Come on out! October 1 2025. Toronto 🇨🇦 👇 https://t.co/Rc2xoXdzKd
@BlackHatEvents
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Thanks for taking the time to read and review my book, Chasing Shadows, @SallasAlexander 🙏
Bookworm glides into your inbox! Read @SallasAlexander on @RonDeibert’s “Chasing Shadows” (@SimonSchusterCA), @davidvenn_ on Tim Bowling’s “Graveyard Shift at the Lemonade Stand” (@fhbooks), and poetry by Josiah Nelson. https://t.co/XBtHnapl7C
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Get ready for exciting announcements from our CEO, Vlad Tenev at Robinhood Presents: Enter the Mainframe. September 9, 2025 - 5:30pm PT/8:30pm ET. https://t.co/cLhiCw7bpH
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Citizen Lab's @jsrailton talks with @drewharwell @washingtonpost about the unavoidable downsides of the UK's age-verification law.
NEW: after the UK's age verification rollout, traffic non-compliant adult sites is exploding. Which penalizes compliant ones. Totally predictable. And that's not the worst part about this misguided law 1/ Article & analysis by @drewharwell
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NEW: foreign mercenary spyware is coming to the US. ICE just quietly unsuspended contract with spyware maker #Paragon. Remember them? Caught earlier this year being used to hack journalists. Bad move for Americans rights, national security & counterintelligence 1/
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In a recent analysis, Robertson flagged that #BillC2 could pose significant constitutional and human rights risks & points to the need for more transparency regarding its implications for data sharing with the US or other countries. Read it here:
citizenlab.ca
Our preliminary analysis of Bill C-2 situates the legislation within the context of existing research by the Citizen Lab about two potential data-sharing treaties that are most relevant to the new...
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Join the Citizen Lab’s @KateRobertson_ on Aug 27 at a webinar co-hosted by @ICLMG on Canada’s Bill C-2. She will be joined by privacy & migrant rights experts to discuss what’s at stake with 🇨🇦's “Strong Borders” Act. Register:
iclmg.ca
The “Strong Borders” Act makes all of us less safe Join us to learn everything you need to know to stop Bill C-2! When: August 27th, 7 PM ET (4 PM PT/6 PM CT/8 PM AT) Who: Some of Canada’s leading...
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Citizen Lab director warns cyber industry about US authoritarian descent | TechCrunch
techcrunch.com
Ron Deibert, the head of the prominent digital human rights groups Citizen Lab, sounds the alarm at the Black Hat security conference about the "dramatic descent into authoritarianism," but one that...
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NEW: 🇩🇪Germany's top court says spyware severely violates fundamental rights. Bans spyware in cases with <3year sentences. Enforces tough proportionality tests on all surveillance. Restricts spyware to serious cases. Interesting development 1/
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Writing for @policyoptions, the Citizen Lab’s @KateRobertson_ and Song-Ly Tran discuss how Canada’s outdated wiretap laws fail to protect Canadians from spyware abuse. Read it here: https://t.co/FMPBwU1WVR
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I'm honoured and excited to be delivering a keynote at @BlackHatEvents USA 2025 Come hear about the history of @citizenlab, our investigations into digital threats, and the future of counter-intelligence for civil society! https://t.co/n677FTfgag
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This new article by the Citizen Lab's Gabby Lim (et al) in @techpolicypress examines the growth of economic power in the hands of private firms “incentivized to serve the surveillance state and further a new kind of space military-industrial complex.” Read it here:
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New op-ed by @RonDeibert discusses the G7 Leaders’ Statement on countering transnational repression that was put forward last month. Read it in the @globeandmail
https://t.co/U7QoFMR7Ya
theglobeandmail.com
A statement against this practice was a welcome sight, but will mean very little without concrete action
Canada 🇨🇦 makes many pledges re: regulating spyware, protecting victims of transnational repression, and protecting human rights. But words must be followed by actions My latest @globeandmail on the G7 Leaders' Statement on Transnational Repression https://t.co/uDJiAPDyoN
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Why are governments around the world tightening laws on #misinformation? The Citizen Lab’s Gabrielle Lim & co-authors examine the global surge of misinformation legislation in their new article published by @IJoC_USC. Read it here: https://t.co/C9wsHIHtZv
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🚨NEW REPORT: exposing a new hacking tactic. 🇷🇺Russian state-backed hackers used an App-Specific Password attack against prominent Russia expert @KeirGiles & others. It's like they know what we all expect from them...and then did the opposite 1/ By us @citizenlab & @google's
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NEW REPORT: Russia's state-backed hackers have a new trick. In collab w/ @Google Threat Intelligence Group, we investigated an attack against prominent Russian expert @KeirGiles & uncovered an elaborate attack targeting App-Specific Passwords (ASPs). https://t.co/7AM0CuIJMS
citizenlab.ca
Keir Giles, a prominent expert on Russia, was targeted with a new form of social-engineering attack that leverages App-Specific Passwords. Google links the operation to UNC6293, a Russian state-bac...
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