Ronald Deibert

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Ronald Deibert

OC OOnt
Ron Deibert - re publica 2014, Tag 2 (13945262440).jpg
Deibert at re:publica conference, 2014
Alma mater The University of British Columbia (BA, PhD)
Queen's University (MA)
Occupations
Employer University of Toronto

Ronald James Deibert OC OOnt [1] (born 1964) [2] is a Canadian professor of political science, philosopher, founder and director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. [3]

Contents

He was a co-founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor projects. [4] Deibert was one of the founders and former VP of global policy and outreach for Psiphon.

The Citizen Lab

As founder and director of the Citizen Lab, Deibert has overseen and been a contributing author to more than 170 reports [5] covering research on cyber espionage, commercial spyware, Internet censorship, and human rights. The Citizen Lab has been remarkably effective in holding governments and private-sector firms accountable for using information technology to endanger people. Researchers from the Citizen Lab contribute to the global understanding of spyware abuse through their expertise. Writing for the Guardian in 2021, John Naughton said "Deibert has built a formidable team that functions as a kind of National Security Agency for civil society." [6]

Massey Lectures

In 2020, he gave the annual Massey Lectures for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and they were published in book form under the title Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society. [7] The book won the 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. [8] [9] [10]

Other work

Deibert presently serves on the editorial boards of the journals International Political Sociology , [11] Explorations in Media Ecology, [12] Review of Policy Research , [13] Journal of Global Security Studies , [14] and Astropolitics. [15] He has served on the advisory boards of Access Now, Privacy International, the technical advisory groups of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and is currently on the advisory boards of PEN Canada [16] and the Design 4 Democracy Coalition, the steering committee of the World Movement for Democracy, the advisory board for the Citizen Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-chair of the University of Toronto's Information Security Council.

Awards

In recognition of his own work or that of the Citizen Lab, Deibert has been awarded the University of Toronto's President's Impact Award [17] (2017), Foreign Policy's Global Thinker Award [18] (2017), the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer award [19] (2015), the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity [20] (2014), the Advancement of Intellectual Freedom in Canada Award from the Canadian Library Association [21] (2014), the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression Vox Libera Award [22] (2010), the Carolyn Tuohy Award for Public Policy [23] (2010), the Northrop Frye Distinguished Teaching and Research Award (2003), and the University of Toronto Outstanding Teaching Award (2002). [24] He was a Ford Foundation research scholar of information and communication technologies (2002–2004). [25] In 2019, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Guelph. [26]

He was named a Global Thinker by Foreign Policy (2017), one of Motherboard website's "Humans of the Year" [27] (2017), listed among SC Magazine's top "IT Security Luminaries" [28] (2010), and Esquire magazine's Best and Brightest List of 2007. [29]

In 2013, he was made a Member of the Order of Ontario [30] and 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." [30] He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2022, with the rank of Officer. [31]

Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society won the 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. [8]

Publications

Co-edited by Deibert

Authored by Deibert

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citizen Lab</span> Digital research center at the University of Toronto

The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada. It was founded by Ronald Deibert in 2001. The laboratory studies information controls that impact the openness and security of the Internet and that pose threats to human rights. The organization uses a "mixed methods" approach which combines computer-generated interrogation, data mining, and analysis with intensive field research, qualitative social science, and legal and policy analysis methods. The organization has played a major role in providing technical support to journalists investigating the use of NSO Group's Pegasus spyware on journalists, politicians and human rights advocates.

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The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best nonfiction book on Canadian political and social issues. It has been presented annually in Ottawa at the Writers’ Trust Politics and the Pen gala since 2000, superseding the organization's defunct Gordon Montador Award.

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The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary academic centre. It offers various research and educational programs related to the field of globalization. It is located in Toronto, Ontario, offers master's degrees in global affairs and public policy, and a master's degree in European, Russian and Asia-Pacific studies. This school is a member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA). It also works in group of schools that educate students in international affairs. The Munk School's Master of Global Affairs program typically receives 500 and 600 applicants per year and offers 80 students entry into its program.

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Sandvine Incorporated is an application and network intelligence company based in Waterloo, Ontario.

The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) was a joint project whose goal was to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employed a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigators, to determine the extent and nature of government-run internet filtering programs. Participating academic institutions included the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto; Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School; the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at University of Oxford; and, The SecDev Group, which took over from the Advanced Network Research Group at the Cambridge Security Programme, University of Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psiphon</span> Free and open-source internet circumvention tool

Psiphon is a free and open-source Internet censorship circumvention tool that uses a combination of secure communication and obfuscation technologies, such as a VPN, SSH, and a Web proxy. Psiphon is a centrally managed and geographically diverse network of thousands of proxy servers, using a performance-oriented, single- and multi-hop routing architecture.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">UC Browser</span> Chinese web browser developed by UCWeb Inc

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The Information Warfare Monitor (IWM) was an advanced research activity tracking the emergence of cyberspace as a strategic domain. Created in 2003, it closed in January 2012. It was a public-private venture between two Canadian institutions: The SecDev Group, an operational think tank based in Ottawa (Canada), and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. The Principal Investigators and co-founders of the Information Warfare Monitor are Rafal Rohozinski and Ronald Deibert. The Information Warfare Monitor is part of the Citizen Lab’s network of advanced research projects, which include the OpenNet Initiative, the Fusion Methodology Centre, and PsiLab.

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References

  1. ↑ "Order of Canada appointees – December 2022". The Governor General of Canada. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  2. ↑ Scott Anderson says. "The Troublemaker". University of Toronto. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  3. ↑ "Controversial Pegasus spyware faces its day of reckoning". The Guardian. 27 November 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  4. ↑ Hart, Kim (2008-08-27). "A new breed of hackers tracks online acts of war". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  5. ↑ "Publications". The Citizen Lab. 15 October 2009. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
  6. ↑ Naughton, John (2021-11-27). "Notorious Pegasus spyware faces its day of reckoning". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 2023-12-06.
  7. ↑ Appleyard, Bryan. "Reset by Ronald J Deibert, review — taking back control of the internet" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  8. 1 2 "Citizen Lab's Ronald Deibert wins $25K Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing". Pique Newsmagazine , September 22, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Ronald J. Deibert's Massey Lectures on technology wins $25K prize for best Canadian political writing | CBC Books".
  10. ↑ "Citizen Lab's Ronald Deibert wins Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing". The Globe and Mail. September 22, 2021 – via www.theglobeandmail.com.
  11. ↑ "Editorial Board". Oxford Academic. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  12. ↑ "Explorations in Media Ecology, Editor Ernest A. Hakanen". Intellect Books. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  13. ↑ "Editorial Board" . Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Editorial Board". Oxford Academic. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  15. ↑ "Astropolitics". Taylor & Francis. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  16. ↑ "Biographies of Board Members". PEN Canada. 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  17. ↑ "U of T honours seven researchers whose impact reaches beyond academia". University of Toronto News. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  18. ↑ "Ronald Deibert named 2017 Global Thinker by Foreign Policy Magazine | Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy". munkschool.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  19. ↑ Release, Press (2015-08-26). "EFF Announces 2015 Pioneer Award Winners: Caspar Bowden, Citizen Lab, Anriette Esterhuysen and the Association for Progressive Communications, and Kathy Sierra". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  20. ↑ "Confronting Technology" (PDF). www.media-ecology.org. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  21. ↑ "Canadian Library Association | CLA Advancement of Intellectual Freedom in Canada Award" . Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  22. ↑ "Media Room & Blue Book – University of Toronto". media.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  23. ↑ "Ron Deibert receives Carolyn Tuohy Impact on Public Policy Award". Department of Political Science, University of Toronto. 2010-04-05. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  24. ↑ "U of T Teaching Awards" . Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  25. ↑ "Profile of U of T Citizen Lab Professor Ron Deibert" . Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  26. ↑ "Ronald Deibert receives honorary degree from University of Guelph | Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy". munkschool.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
  27. ↑ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (2017-02-06). "Ron Deibert's Lab Is the 'Robin Hood' of Cybersecurity". Motherboard. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  28. ↑ "Top of the heap: 2010's IT security luminaries". SC Media. 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  29. ↑ "The Best and Brightest 2007". 21 November 2007. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  30. 1 2 "25 Appointees Named to Ontario's Highest Honour". Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.
  31. ↑ "Order of Canada appointees – December 2022". Governor General of Canada. 29 December 2022. Archived from the original on 29 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
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