This post describes TrackerSSL, a browser extension that reveals the leaky ad trackers on webpages that leave your browsing habits open to surveillance.

An article by The Verge on the persecution of Bahraini activists Moosa Abd-Ali Ali, Jaffar Al Hasabi, and Saeed Al-Shehabi features the Citizen Lab’s extensive analysis into FinFisher, a line of remote intrusion and surveillance software developed by Munich-based Gamma International GmbH, conducted by Senior Security Researcher Morgan Marquis-Boire and Research Fellow Bill Marzcak.

Christopher Parsons, post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and managing director of the Telecom Transparency Project, spoke to Canada.com regarding how discussions around privacy shifted in 2014 and what to expect in 2015.

In an article published on openDemocracy.net, Citizen Lab Senior Legal Advisor Sarah McKune writes about the digital threats that civil society organizations (CSOs) face in carrying out their work, which undermine their privacy and compromise sensitive information. “To address this problem we must expand the terms and scope of the debate, exploring the link between the right to privacy and access to digital security more fully,” said McKune.

Citizen Lab Post-Doctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons spoke to a number of media outlets this month on privacy issues in Canada, ranging from topics such as the expansion of Toronto Police Service’s surveillance technologies, the collection of social media data by the government, and concerns with particular mobile applications.

On August 31, Cyber Stewards Network partner Hisham Almiraat launched the Moroccan Digital Rights Association, or also known as Association des droits numériques (ADN) in French.

Citizen Lab Post-doctoral fellow Christopher Parsons was interviewed in The Calgary Herald on the issue of privacy and mass surveillance.

This edition of Social Media Watch deals with top court rulings on digital privacy, social media monitoring, and mobile security news.

Post-doctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons spoke with a variety of media organizations over the past month about his research and pressing events that have taken place in the Canadian telecommunications landscape. He generally discussed lawful access to telecommunications data, the release of transparency reports by Canadian Internet service providers, and the unveiling of an access to personal information tool.

Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert spoke with The Globe and Mail’s telecom reporter Christine Dobby about recent issues related to the privacy of telecommunications customers’ personal information.