Tracking Digital Surveillance and Repression
Insights from the Research of the Citizen Lab
In this presentation, Ronald J. Deibert, University of Toronto, will provide an overview of the Citizen Lab’s research with a special focus on case studies around mercenary surveillance and digital transnational repression. In particular, he will discuss the real-world impacts and unique ethical issues involving the type of mixed methods digital accountability research they have developed.
About the Speaker
Ronald J. Deibert is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab undertakes mixed-methods research on global security, digital technologies, and human rights. The Citizen Lab’s reports routinely make world news, including front-page coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Financial Times, and other major outlets. Deibert is the author of Black Code: Surveillance, Privacy, and the Dark Side of the Internet (Random House: 2013) and RESET: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society (House of Anansi, 2020). In 2013, he was appointed to the Order of Ontario. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal for being “among the first to recognize and take measures to mitigate growing threats to communications rights, openness and security worldwide.” In 2022, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada.