You Move, They Follow
Uncovering Iran’s Mobile Legal Intercept System

Citizen Lab examined a set of documents leaked to news outlet The Intercept that describe plans to develop and launch an Iranian mobile network, including subscriber management operations and services, and integration with a legal intercept solution. If implemented fully as envisioned, it would enable state authorities to directly monitor, intercept, redirect, degrade or deny all Iranians’ mobile communications, including those who are presently challenging the regime.

Featured Publications

Mass Iris Scan Collection in Qinghai: 2019–2022

Police led mass iris scan collection in Qinghai, a region with a population that is 49.4% non-Han, including Tibetans and Hui Muslims. Iris scan collection is part of long-standing police intelligence gathering programs. Through this data collection, Qinghai’s police are effectively treating entire communities as populated by potential threats to social stability.

Minding Your Business: A Critical Analysis of the Collection of De-identified Mobility Data and Its Use Under Socially Beneficial and Legitimate Business Exemptions in Canadian Privacy Law

We investigate the collection of mobility data by the federal government of Canada, its legality under the existing and proposed privacy regime, and proposed recommendations for the reform of draft Bill C-27 which would address many of the issues in the governance of mobility data.

Cybersecurity Will Not Thrive in Darkness: A Critical Analysis of Proposed Amendments in Bill C-26 to the Telecommunications Act

This report offers 30 recommendations to the draft legislation in an effort to correct its secrecy and accountability deficiencies, while also suggesting amendments which would impose some restrictions on the range of powers that the government would be able to wield. It is important that these amendments are seriously taken up due to the sweeping nature of the legislation.

Lifting the lid off the Internet.

The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto, focusing on research and development at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security. Learn more.

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Features & News

Manager, Information System Security – Toronto

Citizen Lab is looking for a Manager, Information System Security who will be responsible for working with Information Technology staff and resources at the Citizen Lab and the wider University to minimize the risk of compromising information, data, servers, and server-based applications.

Information Controls Fellowship Program 2023

The Information Controls Fellowship Program (ICFP) from the Open Technology Fund (OTF) fosters research, outputs, and creative collaboration on repressive Internet censorship and surveillance issues. The program supports examination into how governments in countries, regions, or areas of OTF’s core focus are restricting the free flow of information, cutting access to the open Internet, and… Read more »

CatalanGate Report: Correcting a Case

On December 15, 2022, as part of our regular re-analysis of past cases to find additional spyware infection indicators and details, we discovered that a researcher had misread the labels assigned to two individuals’ results, leading to a confusion between phones owned by two people with the same initials who were part of the same… Read more »

Cynthia Khoo Delivers Testimony to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics

Citizen Lab fellow Cynthia Khoo appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) as a witness in the Committee’s study on the use and impact on facial recognition technology. She was invited to provide testimony on the potential harms and human rights implications of facial recognition, including recommendations for how the Government of Canada should regulate such technology.

Featured Video

Digital Transnational Repression Explained

We investigate how activists and dissidents living in Canada are impacted by digital transnational repression: the various ways that individuals continue to be harassed and targeted online by authoritarian governments, even after they leave their country of origin.