On December 7, 2020, the Citizen Lab published a report that investigates Huawei, 5G technologies, and Canadian telecommunications issues. Drawing exclusively on open-source reporting, it finds that Canada does not have a Huawei problem, per se; it has a 5G strategy problem that is linked to the Government of Canada lacking a principle-driven set of integrated industrial, cyber security, and foreign policy strategies. This document provides a summary of the research findings and questions and answers from the research team.

This report contains a summary of the scoping study’s results and it proceeds as follows: first, it outlines the Lab’s work on gender and digital security; second, it maps the landscape of research and advocacy in this field and discusses the interviews’ findings; and finally, it highlights some of the research gaps that are relevant to the Citizen Lab’s work.

Citizen Lab director, Professor Ron Deibert, is this year’s 2020 CBC Massey Lecturer. Accompanying the lectures is a book authored by Deibert, entitled RESET: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society.

It is encouraging to see the provincial government undertake efforts to improve the state of privacy law in Ontario, given the increasingly ubiquitous data commodification and surveillance of our behaviours, bodies, online and offline activities, and lives. To that end, the Citizen Lab submitted a brief which included 21 recommendations for legal and policy reform in Ontario, with a view to strengthening the privacy and data protection rights of individuals in the province.

To ensure we can continue to deliver expert advice for years to come, the Citizen Lab is excited to announce that Security Planner is joining Consumer Reports (CR) Digital Lab.

The Citizen Lab is thrilled to announce the first Surveillance, Digital Security, and Race Fellows: Bria Mathis and Todd Whitney.

This document provides an explainer to a new report from Citizen Lab and the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law on the use and human rights implications of algorithmic policing practices in Canada.

Speaking with the Toronto Star, Citizen Lab senior research associate, Dr. Christopher Parsons, comments on the United Kingdom’s move to ban Huawei from the country’s 5G infrastructure. As Canada works to articulate its stance on the Chinese company, it must reconcile its unique relationship with Beijing.

Citizen Lab researchers alert pro-independence individuals were targeted in a “possible case of domestic political espionage.”

Titled Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, the five lectures will be delivered online, streamed on CBC Radio’s IDEAS, and published as a book by House of Anansi Press in September.