Citizen Lab and partners at RightsCon 2016
March 30-April 1 – San Francisco, California
Christopher Parsons
Christopher Parsons on Canada’s Five Eyes intelligence sharing
In a guest post on JustSecurity co-authored with Tamir Israel of the Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons urged a revaluation of Canada’s intelligence sharing with its Five Eyes allies.
Security and Privacy Issues in Several Leading Wearable Fitness Tracking Devices
A new report describing major security and privacy issues in several leading wearable fitness tracking devices and accompanying mobile applications. The research examined offerings by Apple, Basis, Fitbit, Garmin, Jawbone, Mio, Withings, and Xiaomi.
Christopher Parsons on Canada’s monitoring of social media
Canada’s Department of National Defence, and its associated research wing, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), are looking to purchase software to analyze social media streams in real-time. Christopher Parsons weighs in on concerns of the possibility of accidentally collecting Canadians’ personal information.
Christopher Parsons on Pakistan’s BlackBerry information requests
Pakistan and BlackBerry have agreed to delay the shutdown of BlackBerry’s Enterprise Server (BES) by one month. This comes months after Pakistan initially ordered the shutdown of the company’s encrypted messaging services for businesses. Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons weighed in on the policy reasons for the disagreement.
Beyond Privacy: Articulating the Broader Harms of Pervasive Mass Surveillance
Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons published a paper titled “Beyond Privacy: Articulating the Broader Harms of Pervasive Mass Surveillance” in Media and Communication. The paper explores how dominant theories of privacy grapple with the pervasive mass surveillance activities undertaken by western signals intelligence activities, including those of the NSA, CSE, GCHQ, GCSB, and ASD.
Christopher Parsons on the Canadian government’s “secret network” hack
A “secret network” launched by the Canadian federal government last year, costing millions of dollars to taxpayers, came under close scrutiny following a suspected hack. Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christoper Parsons explains the possibilities behind the leaking of the document.
Pakistan to ban BlackBerry encrypted messaging
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), a government agency responsible for the establishment and operation of telecommunications in the country, ordered the shutdown of BlackBerry’s encrypted communication services.
Privacy and Security Issues with UC Browser
Our report reveals that UC Browser poorly secures data in its English and Chinese language versions for Android.
Christopher Parsons on Canada’s CSIS
In an internal report obtained by the Toronto Star, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) states that the spy agency cannot keep up with threats from state-sponsored hackers. Citizen Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons told the Toronto Star the report, along with cases like the cyber attack of the NRC by Chinese sponsored hackers, point to the militarization of the Internet.