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Citizen Lab staff and research in the news.

Exposing Pegasus: How the State Spies on You

In an interview with What Bitcoin Did, Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton discusses the proliferation of spyware and the repercussions of its use on victims. He explains how mass surveillance “ultimately leads to self-censorship,” with significant implications for our freedom. Watch here.

John Scott-Railton on U.K.’s Age-Verification Laws

A new U.K. age-verification law aimed to protect children can push people to seedier parts of the web. Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton spoke with the Washington Post about the “law of unintended consequences” faced by regulators.  The law “suppresses traffic to compliant platforms while driving users to sites without age verification,” says Scott-Railton…. Read more »

How Cyber Espionage Threatens Democracy in the Age of Trump (The Agenda)

In this interview with TVO The Agenda’s Steve Paikin, Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert discusses his recent trip to the White House, the impact that the Trump administration’s policies will have on cyber security worldwide, and why Canadians should be concerned by a potential bilateral surveillance agreement with the U.S. 

The Citizen Lab’s Director Dissects Spyware and the ‘Proliferating’ Market for It (The Record)

In this Q&A by The Record from Recorded Future News, Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert speaks with cyber security reporter Suzanne Smalley about the technical aspects of the Citizen Lab’s research methods, why there is almost certainly spyware being used that hasn’t yet been discovered, and how spyware companies continue to evolve to evade detection…. Read more »

The Hogue Report was a missed opportunity to tackle transnational repression: Op-ed for the Globe & Mail

In an opinion piece for The Globe and Mail, The Citizen Lab’s Emile Dirks, Siena Anstis, Noura Aljizawi, and Ron Deibert, argue that while the final report of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions (the Hogue Commission) found no evidence of Canadian MPs collaborating with foreign states to… Read more »

Q&A with Ron Deibert and Carine Kanimba in Digital Front Lines

In a Q&A for the Digital Front Lines report by Foreign Policy Analytics, The Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert and human rights activist Carine Kanimba talk about the psychological impact of being targeted by mercenary spyware and the growing threat of surveillance technologies being misused by both state and non-state actors. They discuss how spyware… Read more »