It is encouraging to see the provincial government undertake efforts to improve the state of privacy law in Ontario, given the increasingly ubiquitous data commodification and surveillance of our behaviours, bodies, online and offline activities, and lives. To that end, the Citizen Lab submitted a brief which included 21 recommendations for legal and policy reform in Ontario, with a view to strengthening the privacy and data protection rights of individuals in the province.

This submission outlines Canadian technology companies and the threat they pose to human rights abroad, as well as suggests mechanisms the Government of Canada’s RBC strategy can adopt to address the harmful impacts of Canadian-made technology. 

This document provides an explainer to a new report from Citizen Lab and the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law on the use and human rights implications of algorithmic policing practices in Canada.

How do information controls impact different communities? Debates on Internet-enabled mass surveillance practices have increasingly dominated mainstream conversations, especially after the Snowden revelations. However, what is not as well documented is targeted surveillance operations against civil society that threaten their ability to hold governments accountable.

How do events on the ground impact information control online? The Internet has amplified citizens’ communication, allowing them to organize and mobilize for political or social causes. Major sporting events have been used to introduce security measures and justify surveillance capabilities that often have a lasting legacy in the countries or regions where this happens.

The encroachments to OTF highlight why independent and transparent funding sources for research and development on Internet freedom are so important. Providing this type of support within a large government organisation can be difficult. OTF was an example of how to do that right. Losing that example will be a loss not only to the practitioners and researchers that have grown through the support of OTF but the wider community of marginalized people they support. 

Targets were sent emails disguised as important communications, such as official summonses, bearing links to malicious software disguised as important documents. If opened, targets’ computers would have been infected with NetWire, a piece of commodity malware.

Over the course of our multi-year investigation, we found that Dark Basin likely conducted commercial espionage on behalf of their clients against opponents involved in high profile public events, criminal cases, financial transactions, news stories, and advocacy. This report highlights several clusters of targets. In future reports, we will provide more details about specific clusters of targets and Dark Basin’s activities.

公民实验室2020年5月7日发布报告指出，中国最流行的社交媒体软件微信是对平台上的文档和图像内容实施监控，并使用监控所得的数据训练其审查系统。本文是对该报告的概述，以及与研究团队的一些常见问答。

公民實驗室2020年5月7日發布報告指出，中國最流行的社交媒體軟件微信是對平台上的文檔和圖像內容實施監控，並使用監控所得的數據訓練其審查系統。本文是對該報告的概述，以及與研究團隊的一些常見問答。