The 2015 Pakistan Cyberspace Conference, a two day conference (February 26-27) hosted by Bytes for All, convened government officials, human rights activists, media professionals, and business leaders to discuss a range of issues related to cyberspace in Pakistan. The conference sought to encourage government officials to formulate informed policy on cyberspace issues, in light of input from civil society and business leaders.

Citizen Lab Post-doctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons spoke to the CBC on the implications of Canada’s Bill C-51, as well as CSE’s email storage and monitoring.

An article by Forbes magazine discusses FireEye’s recent report on Syria, authored by Daniel Regalado, Citizen Lab Technical Advisory Board member Nart Villeneuve, and Citizen Lab Research Fellow John Scott Railton.

Citizen Lab Research Fellow Jason Q. Ng commented on the effect that China’s real name registration policy will have on virtual private networks (VPNs) and self-censorship.

Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert delivered a keynote address and contributed to a panel discussion as part of the 2015 Pakistan Cyberspace conference, held in Islamabad.

The document is a memo circulated among the Five Eyes, a network of English-speaking intelligence agencies. Though the document does not name the hackers whose data were stolen, it made it clear that they had ties to the Chinese government, and were spying on human rights defenders and Uyghur activists in the country.

Citizen Lab Senior Researcher Helmi Noman contributed another report to the Internet Monitor, a research project that evaluates the extent of internet controls across the world, run by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Deutsche Welle reported that German state prosecutors have started preliminary investigations into whether the German-developed spy software FinFisher is being used by foreign intelligence agencies against targets inside Germany.

The hearing focused on the impact of digital surveillance and intrusion systems on human rights in third world countries. McKune spoke on relevant Citizen Lab research and the ways that policy decisions can reflect these findings.

In response to the call for submissions of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression regarding the use of encryption and anonymity in digital communications, the Citizen Lab and independent researcher Collin Anderson have submitted a joint analysis, entitled “The need for democratization of digital security solutions to ensure the right to freedom of expression.”