The Citizen Lab

The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto, focusing on research, development, and high-level strategic policy and legal engagement at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security.

We use a “mixed methods” approach to research combining practices from political science, law, computer science, and area studies.

Public Key

npub1fpyywdlcg39w5prp8lylw76jf8sqtclrnpr525d6wjgms8w4eajqvs2jcw

NIP-05 Address

citizenlab@mastodon-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsysjz8xluygjh2q3snlj0h0dfyncq9u03es3692xa8fydcrh2u7eqpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgqg5waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxgctdw4eju6t0c0llar

Publishing to

relay.nostr.band

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1fpyywdlcg39w5prp8lylw76jf8sqtclrnpr525d6wjgms8w4eajqvs2jcw

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Last Notes

2025-02-25 20:28:46 UTC

New legal commentary by The Citizen Lab’s Cynthia Khoo and Kate Robertson warns of the constitutional dangers posed by a potential Canada-U.S. CLOUD Act agreement. If signed, this would extend the reach of U.S. law enforcement into Canada’s digital terrain to an unprecedented extent.
Read it here: https://citizenlab.ca/2025/02/canada-us-cross-border-surveillance-cloud-act/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/066/411/989/948/754/original/294df7727b130438.png

2025-02-24 21:13:11 UTC

⚠️ New legal analysis by The Citizen Lab’s Cynthia Khoo and Kate Robertson warns of the constitutional dangers posed by the Canada-U.S. #CLOUDAct.
If signed, the agreement would extend the reach of U.S. law enforcement into Canada’s digital terrain to an unprecedented extent.
Read it here: https://citizenlab.ca/2025/02/canada-us-cross-border-surveillance-cloud-act/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/060/929/482/152/204/original/0c1873caefd708ba.png

2025-02-21 17:28:06 UTC

✒️Even after Assad’s fall, #disinformation in #Syria is thriving. In an opinion piece The Citizen Lab’s @nprofile…aeax discusses how new trends and tactics have emerged, and how foreign powers and non-state actors exploit social media to manipulate narratives and spread fear.
Read more here: https://timep.org/2025/01/30/truth-in-transition-disinformation-in-post-assad-syria/

2025-02-16 15:21:42 UTC

In a Q&A for the Digital Front Lines report by Foreign Policy Analytics (@nprofile…4j3t) human rights activist Carine Kanimba and The Citizen Lab director @nprofile…gh3g discuss the human toll of spyware and call for collaboration between civil society, tech firms, and governments to combat its abuse.
https://digitalfrontlines.io/2025/01/31/spyware-human-toll-cyber-mercenaries/
#spyware

2025-02-12 15:31:42 UTC

Our first network security analysis of the popular social media app, #RedNote, has revealed some major red flags 🚩🚩🚩. The app is used by over 300 million users worldwide - but its network encryption falls short. Read the report: https://citizenlab.ca/2025/02/network-security-issues-in-rednote/

2025-02-10 18:51:29 UTC

Imagine having your home address splattered all over the internet. Meryem, an activist living in the US, knows exactly what that’s like. She faces relentless online harassment from Chinese state-backed trolls as she fights for #Uyghur rights. Her fight is made even harder because she is a woman. Learn about the price she’s paid: https://citizenlab.ca/case-studies/meryem-a-human-rights-activist-from-xinjiang-china/ #digitaltransnationalrepression
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/981/093/613/887/099/original/fc871d6ef06256ab.png

2025-02-07 20:57:58 UTC

Dounia is an exiled journalist living in France. After exposing Morocco's use of #spyware against politicians, she became the target of physical and sexual harassment, spread across both traditional media and social platforms. Even while in #China, #Morocco continued to harass her, forcing her to flee to #France, where the online attacks continued.
Read her story of resilience: https://citizenlab.ca/case-studies/dounia-filali-a-journalist-from-morocco/ #digitaltransnationalrepression
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/964/605/037/754/961/original/e3ea5128779dd56d.png

2025-02-07 15:50:17 UTC

After Fatima fled to the UK, the Syrian state-sponsored attacks continued. Both the regime and anti-regime groups continue to target her, both online and offline, making her journalism a high-risk endeavour. With her family used as leverage, she has been pressured to self-censor. Learn how these attacks impact her life and work: https://citizenlab.ca/case-studies/fatima-a-journalist-from-syria/ #digitaltransnationalrepression
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/963/396/875/118/044/original/d6e09790647d946b.png

2025-02-03 19:21:30 UTC

📢 Work with us! The Citizen Lab is looking for a Systems & Security Technical Lead to join our team. This is a unique opportunity to shape the strategic and tactical approach to risk management, systems security & compliance at The Citizen Lab. Apply by February 20 👉 https://citizenlab.ca/2025/01/job-posting-systems-sec-tech-lead/

2025-01-31 20:12:25 UTC

Spyware attacks, censorship, social media hacking, DDoS attacks, surveillance, and smear campaigns are just some of the tactics used by the #Azerbaijani government to silence women activists. The regime is also notorious for exploiting intimate photos and videos to intimidate and publicly shame women dissidents and critics. Learn more about this growing threat: https://citizenlab.ca/case-studies/azerbaijan/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/924/789/974/508/901/original/74ebc7224da2b9a3.jpg

2025-01-31 15:22:55 UTC

China’s repression of #Uyghurs in #Xinjiang extends beyond borders to target women Uyghur activists and their families, using digital threats, harassment, surveillance, and smear campaigns to silence human rights advocacy on the suppression of the Uyghur culture and community. Read our country spotlight here: https://citizenlab.ca/case-studies/xinjiang-region-china/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/923/651/400/739/737/original/69ac1aee6b597dac.jpg

2025-01-30 20:50:39 UTC

The #Eritrean government uses digital transnational repression to silence women activists with online campaigns of gendered abuse, stalking, and doxxing, targeting their reputation, jobs, and families. This creates an environment of fear and mistrust within polarized diaspora communities. Read our country case study here: https://citizenlab.ca/case-studies/eritrea/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/919/277/242/567/071/original/14695c6b1d4ee645.jpg

2025-01-30 17:14:47 UTC

Turkey frequently targets dissidents, exiled journalists, and activists worldwide with digital transnational repression. The #Turkish government uses digital tactics to intimidate critics, especially women, through online trolling, surveillance-by-proxy, and harassment from loyalist groups in the diaspora. #Turkiye
Read our country spotlight here: https://citizenlab.ca/case-studies/turkey/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/918/429/188/141/728/original/40d4c786a222077c.jpg

2025-01-30 14:53:18 UTC

Speaking with NBC News, our director Ron Deibert cautions #DeepSeek users to be "particularly cautious if they have reason to fear Chinese authorities."
“The same risks apply to all AI platforms, including those based in the United States," he adds.
Read it here: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/deepseek-ai-comes-data-safety-concerns-chatgpt-openai-rcna189521
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/917/872/868/947/774/original/835be73b9bd81fdc.png

2025-01-28 15:55:41 UTC

What is digital transnational repression (DTR) - and why should you care? DTR arises when governments use digital technologies to surveil, intimidate and silence exiled dissidents and diaspora communities.

2025-01-22 15:13:53 UTC

📢 Call for applications! Open Technology Fund’s Information Controls Fellowship Program, supporting researchers investigating internet #censorship & #surveillance, is now accepting applications. As one of the host organizations, @nprofile…76ux welcomes proposals.
👉 Learn more and apply by February 28.
https://citizenlab.ca/2025/01/call-for-applications-information-controls-fellowship-program-2025/

2025-01-08 19:56:39 UTC

Check out this talk from the Objective by the Sea 🍏-security conference. Citizen Lab senior researcher Bill Marczak and Microsoft's Christine Fossaceca discuss the Citizen Lab’s discovery of QuaDream’s spyware and the zero-click exploit likely used to deliver it.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyz5sS67_Vg

2024-12-19 18:26:51 UTC

In this episode of Zoom In Zoom Out on TaiwanPlus, The Citizen Lab’s senior researcher Rebekah Brown talks about the commercial spyware industry, its misuse by governments, and the urgent need for regulation.
#spyware
Watch it here: https://www.taiwanplus.com/news/shows/zoom-in-zoom-out/241122001/combating-global-abuse-of-commercial-spyware

2024-12-16 16:41:48 UTC

Thailand’s role in the UNHRC is being called into question following its controversial deportation of six Cambodian dissidents. In an interview with The Diplomat, Marcus Michaelsen, senior researcher at the Citizen Lab, cautions that Thailand is now a dangerous territory for political exiles fleeing repression.
Read the article:
https://thediplomat.com/2024/12/cambodia-deportations-undermine-thailands-un-human-rights-council-credentials/

2024-12-12 21:45:31 UTC

🎧In this episode of @CyberSecCenter’s Distilling Cyber Policy podcast, the Citizen Lab’s senior researchers @PDXbek and @nprofile…329j discuss the Citizen Lab’s “Rivers of Phish” report, which exposed a sophisticated phishing campaign targeting Russia’s perceived adversaries.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2216164/episodes/16179639-the-us-data-security-eo-with-lee-licata-and-grant-dasher-part-2
#cybersecurity #COLDRIVER

2024-12-12 16:44:49 UTC

In an open letter to Hon Mélanie Joly, Hon Dominic LeBlanc & Hon Arif Virani, NGOs and individual experts, including Citizen Lab’s @nprofile…gh3g @nprofile…aeax @nprofile…lnm3, and @nprofile…hjgp urge Canada to reject adoption of the UN’s draft Convention against Cybercrime. Read the letter on @nprofile…cr49 https://openmedia.org/press/item/canada-must-not-adopt-un-cybersecurity-convention
#Cybercrime #humanrights #Canada
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/640/842/860/030/283/original/21e68622078cbb01.png

2024-12-02 13:18:59 UTC

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Our study, No Escape: The Weaponization of Gender for the Purposes of Digital Transnational Repression, found that activists in exile are digitally targeted using tools and techniques including social media surveillance, hacking of devices and social accounts, online harassment, disinformation, and more tactics aimed at discrediting them.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/583/425/015/649/785/original/be18ba0f75a0bdd2.png

2024-12-02 13:15:15 UTC

NEW REPORT: We investigate the rising trend of gender-based digital transnational repression by drawing on the lived experiences of 85 women human rights defenders living in exile across the globe.
Read the full report: https://citizenlab.ca/2024/12/the-weaponization-of-gender-for-the-purposes-of-digital-transnational-repression/

2024-11-29 20:49:17 UTC

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In our 2022 report “Psychological and Emotional War - Digital Transnational Repression in Canada” we concluded that DTR has a serious impact on activists and dissidents living in exile, including their ability to undertake transnational advocacy work related to human rights. Read it here: https://citizenlab.ca/2022/03/psychological-emotional-war-digital-transnational-repression-canada/

2024-11-29 20:48:19 UTC

Digital transnational repression (DTR) is increasingly becoming the cornerstone of ‘everyday’ transnational repression, posing a significant threat to the rights and freedoms of dissidents and activists living in exile.
https://youtu.be/FkPCec7jG5I

2024-11-29 14:42:11 UTC

The Citizen Lab, as well as our partners, peers, and collaborators have been instrumental in monitoring NSO Group’s operations. As the litigation against NSO Group continues, the outcome could very well shape the future of the mercenary spyware industry. For a full list of mercenary spyware-related legal cases, formal complaints, and research, click here: https://citizenlab.ca/2018/12/litigation-and-other-formal-complaints-concerning-targeted-digital-surveillance-and-the-digital-surveillance-industry/

2024-11-29 14:41:20 UTC

Victims of spyware face numerous hurdles in seeking justice against mercenary spyware makers such as NSO Group. Speaking with @nprofile…wu0r, The Citizen Lab’s @nprofile…329j says, “A lot of victims have struggled to get their cases to move forward, and keep moving. Some of that traces back to forms of immunity that spyware companies and their government customers seek to shield themselves with.”
Read the article: https://cyberscoop.com/spyware-court-cases-nso-group-meta-whatsapp-apple/

2024-11-27 19:28:02 UTC

On November 29, the Citizen Lab’s
@nprofile…hjgp will deliver a keynote at the 2024 Access, Privacy, Security, and Information Management Conference. Kate will discuss the intersection of privacy law and Canada’s constitution, and the future of privacy regulation in #Canada.
Learn more about the event here 👉🏽 https://gov.nl.ca/apsim/
#APSIM2024 #PrivacyLaw

2024-11-27 15:29:21 UTC

“It is happening on the American Amazon site and it is infringing on people’s human rights,” says Jeffrey Knockel speaking with Waterloo Region Record about a new report from the Citizen Lab revealing how @nprofile…mpy8’s US site is restricting shipments of over 17k+ products to multiple countries.
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/amazon-called-out-for-censorship-by-citizen-lab/article_f718f4d7-44da-5c9c-8aa2-032ca0a057cc.html

2024-11-26 20:25:33 UTC

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On November 4, @nprofile…hjgp was asked to appear before the Senate Standing Committee on National Security, Defence, and Veterans Affairs to provide her expert testimony on the ongoing consideration of Bill C-26. On passing the bill in its current state, Kate says, “these powers give the government the power to compromise the next generation of solutions.”
Watch Kate’s testimony here:
https://senparlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2?fk=655415&globalStreamId=3

2024-11-26 20:14:11 UTC

The Citizen Lab’s @nprofile…hjgp testified before the Senate Standing Committee on National Security, Defence, and Veterans Affairs on Bill C-26. Robertson calls for stronger judicial oversight, protection for encryption, and transparency obligations in Bill C-26 to protect the rights and freedoms of people in Canada, and the security of Canada’s telecom networks.
Read her written submission here: https://sencanada.ca/Content/Sen/Committee/441/SECD/briefs/Brief_CitizenLab_AMENDED_e.pdf
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2024-11-25 23:23:01 UTC

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This report's key findings are translated into Arabic here: https://citizenlab.ca/2024/11/analysis-censorship-amazon-com-ar/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/546/164/587/727/601/original/ba014b85db852690.png

2024-11-25 15:18:14 UTC

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The books that were banned were largely related to sensitive topics like erotica, religion, the occult, and LGBTIQ issues. Even though these books were in stock and a seller was willing to ship, Amazon still restricted users from shipping them to that region. Countries affected are the UAE, Saudi Arabia, other Middle Eastern countries as well as Brunei Darussalam, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Zambia.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/544/252/347/366/869/original/ed65965bb54ec2bd.png

2024-11-25 15:15:55 UTC

📢 NEW REPORT: Our latest report reveals that the US storefront of @nprofile…mpy8 uses a system to restrict shipments of certain products. We found 17k+ products that were restricted from being shipped to specific world regions, with the most common type of product being books 📚
Read the report here: https://citizenlab.ca/2024/11/analysis-of-censorship-on-amazon-com/

2024-09-10 16:08:02 UTC

Join us on Sunday, September 15 at 10:30 am EDT for a thought-provoking discussion with lawyer and Citizen Lab fellow Lex Gill in conversation with CBC Ideas’ Nahlah Ayed at Crow's Theatre. Lex will explore themes of injustice, defiance, and what it takes to build a better world.
Get your free tickets here: https://tickets.crowstheatre.com/TheatreManager/1/online?performance=3603
#CBCIdeas

2024-08-14 12:31:44 UTC

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We connected the phishing to #COLDRIVER, a threat actor attributed to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) by multiple governments. The attackers typically sought to trick targets into entering their credentials by credibly impersonating colleagues and professional acquaintances, then sharing fake “encrypted” or “protected” files for review.
Read Access Now’s reports here: https://accessnow.org/russian-phishing-campaigns