Bill Marczak

Twitter Globe Envelope

I am a Senior Research Fellow at Citizen Lab, a co-founder of Bahrain Watch, and a Postdoctoral Researcher at UC Berkeley, where I received my PhD in Computer Science under the advisorship of Vern Paxson. My work focuses on novel technological threats to Internet freedom, including new censorship and surveillance tools. My expertise is in Internet scanning and conducting digital investigations. Coverage of my work has been featured in Vanity Fair, the New York Times, the Washington Post, on CNN, and on Larry King.

Articles

Planet Netsweeper: Executive Summary

This report describes our investigation into the global proliferation of Internet filtering systems manufactured by the Canadian company, Netsweeper Inc.

Planet Netsweeper: Section 1 – Methodology & Technical Findings

This section details the research questions that informed our study. We also outline in detail the methods that we adopted to identify Netsweeper installations worldwide, and those that we employed to reduce the findings to countries of interest. We also present high-level technical findings and observations.

Planet Netsweeper: Section 2 – Country Case Studies

In this section, we spotlight several countries where we have evidence of public ISPs blocking websites using Netsweeper’s products. Each country has significant human rights, public policy, insecurity, or corruption challenges, and/or a history of using Internet censorship to prevent access to content that is protected under international human rights frameworks.

Planet Netsweeper: Section 3 – Discussion & Conclusions

This section examines the legal, regulatory, corporate social responsibility, and other public policy issues raised by our report’s findings. We focus on the responsibilities of Netsweeper, Inc. and the obligations of the Canadian government under international human rights law.

KÖTÜ TRAFİK: Sandvine’ın PacketLogic Cihazları Türkiye’de Hükümetin Casus Program Kullanmasına, Mısır’da ise Kullanıcıları Bağlantılı Reklamlara Yönlendirmeye mi Yarıyor?

Bu rapor, Sandvine/Procera Networks Derin Veri Analizi (DPI) cihazlarının, Türkiye’de ve dolaylı olarak Suriye’de devlet menşeili kötücül yazılım yaymak; Mısır’da ise reklam ve kripto para madenciliği marifetiyle gizlice para toplamak için kullanımına yönelik araştırmamızı anlatmaktadır.  

أزمة مرورية: أجهزة ساندفين باكيت لوجيك استُخدمت لنشر برامج التجسس الحكومية في تركيا وإعادة توجيه المستخدمين المصريين إلى الإعلانات التابعة لها؟

يشرح هذا التقرير تحقيقنا عن استخدام واضح لأجهزة فحص عميق للحزم (DPI) من شركة ساندفين\بروكيرا لنشر البرامج الضارة في تركيا وبشكل غير مباشر إلى سوريا، وجمع الأموال سرا من خلال الإعلانات التابعة لتعدين العملات الرقمية في مصر.

Commercial Spyware: The Multibillion Dollar Industry Built on an Ethical and Legal Quagmire

Ethiopian’s penchant for commercial spyware is notorious, as is its pattern of digital espionage against journalists, activists, and other entities—many of which are based overseas—that seek to promote government accountability and are therefore viewed as political threats. Yet the Ethiopian government and others like it have faced little pressure to cease this particular strain of digital targeting.

Champing at the Cyberbit: Ethiopian Dissidents Targeted with New Commercial Spyware

This report describes how Ethiopian dissidents in the US, UK, and other countries were targeted with emails containing sophisticated commercial spyware posing as Adobe Flash updates and PDF plugins. Targets include a US-based Ethiopian diaspora media outlet, a PhD student, a lawyer, and even a Citizen Lab researcher.