Social Media Watch returns with updates from the EU and US legal landscape, some notable cases of government access to personal data, and an overview of some important reports describing the need for updated regulation in the data economy.

Senior Security Analyst Seth Hardy Seth Hardy was interviewed on CBC’s Day 6 radio programme about Remote Administration Tools, RATS, programs that can allow a hacker to take total control of any computer.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Citizen Lab’s Chris Parsons announced they are suing the crown in the Ontario Superior Court.

Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert was interviewed by Patrick McGuire, the managing editor for VICE Canada on 7 May.

Citizen Lab Post-doctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons was interviewed on CBC News on 8 May about state cyber surveillance in Canada.

Citizen Lab Research Fellow Jason Q. Ng was in Brooklyn and NYC in April to present his research on media censorship in China.

Citizen Lab Research Fellow Tim Maurer has joined the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG), a research advisory network.

In 2012, together with Eva Galperin from the EFF, Citizen Lab researchers Morgan Marquis-Boire and Seth Hardy identified the use of BlackShades in the targeting of opposition forces in Syria. This work has been featured in the recent coverage of the world wide “BlackShades busts” by the Washington Post, the Daily Beast, The Telegraph, and ThreatPost.

On 11 April, Research Fellow John Scott-Railton gave a presentation on humanitarianism in the age of cyberwarfare at the ICT Humanitarian Forum in Luxembourg.

Citizen Lab Senior Advisor Robert Guerra was interviewed about Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) turning over a set of domain management functions to the Internet’s stakeholder community.