September 27, 2017 – Toronto, Canada Organized by John Ralston Saul and Adrienne Clarkson of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, the conference “explores citizenship and inclusion in a world that demands answers now”.

Citizen Lab is excited to announce that Bram Abramson will be joining the team as a 2017 Ford-Mozilla Open Web Fellow. Bram will be bringing his skills as a lawyer to Citizen Lab to assist on issues related to telecom privacy and transparency.

As parents all over the world review back-to-school safety tips with their kids, researchers have revealed serious security vulnerabilities in South Korean children’s apps that may leave some parents asking: are our kids safer without them?

By now, issues of digital surveillance, government interference online, and programmatic targeting by businesses are common parlour talk. From Snowden to the recent and ongoing cases of government spying in Mexico, these acts have become a reality of the digital age. But what ethical, legal, and political questions and consequences lie at the intersection of digital governance and big data?

On August 30, 2017 Citizen Lab’s Reckless V report received front page coverage on the New York Times. This report revealed that Claudio X. González, Director of a prominent anti-corruption organization, was targeted with government-exclusive spyware produced by the NSO Group.

Former Citizen Lab postdoctoral researcher Phillipa Gill has been named on the the “Top Innovators Under 35” by MIT Technology Review.

Citizen Lab, along with partners Open Effect, the University of New Mexico, and comic book artist Jason Li, have launched Secure Accounts as a free resource to help users better understand potential threats to their online identities and the steps they can take to protect themselves.

The purchase of a $400 million stake in spyware company NSO Group by Blackstone Group LP has reportedly fallen through. Reports of the deal attracted critical attention from a range of organizations, including Mexican NGOs involved in investigating NSO, Access Now, and Business and Human Rights.

As part of Citizen Lab’s SIGINT working group (which focuses on Canada’s signals intelligence activities), Bill Robinson offers an analysis of proposed legislative changes in Bill C-59.

Reflections and resources on developing a code of conduct for the Citizen Lab Summer Institute.