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Ron Deibert

@rondeibert.bsky.social

Director of The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy Author of Chasing Shadows https://chasingshadowsbook.ca/

10,885 Followers  |  712 Following  |  615 Posts  |  Joined: 04.07.2023
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Posts by Ron Deibert (@rondeibert.bsky.social)

now we know what that Triple O sauce really is!

05.03.2026 22:55 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Italian prosecutors confirm journalist was hacked with Paragon spyware | TechCrunch Italian authorities are making progress in their investigation into a wide-ranging spyware scandal in Italy involving Paragon spyware. But the mystery of who hacked two Italian journalists with Parago...

More spyware fallout in Italy ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น following WhatsApp & Apple notifications & @citizenlab.ca investigations

Prosecutors' team confirms journalist @fcancellato.bsky.social's phone hacked with Paragon spyware

@lorenzofb.bsky.social with details; stay tuned for more
techcrunch.com/2026/03/05/i...

05.03.2026 22:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 22    ๐Ÿ” 20    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

That is true

05.03.2026 15:48 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

This utter disregard for human suffering is beyond cruel

Profoundly despicable people are wreaking havoc on the world

05.03.2026 13:53 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 9    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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The Perils of Military Professionalism Operation Epic Fury follows a familiar pattern of military excellence enabling political malpractice

"If you play Russian roulette enough times, eventually things turn out like the Deer Hunter."

Brilliant analysis of Trump's profoundly deranged international bellicosity by my colleague Jon Lindsay

dolos.substack.com/p/the-perils...

05.03.2026 03:49 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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A knock on the window and a glimpse of Americaโ€™s surveillance future โ€œThis is taking a big and very scary step toward a kind of totalitarian checkpoint society,โ€ a privacy advocate warns in a special France 24โ€“Mother Jones report.

I am old enough to remember when there was momentum behind banning facial recognition tech for police

Now, it's all: scan-your-face-if-you-are-not-white

A knock on the window and a glimpse of Americaโ€™s surveillance future www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

04.03.2026 22:04 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 19    ๐Ÿ” 9    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

For a small country in our geopolitical situation, a rules-based system in which int'l law, humanitarianism and human rights are respected is not only good, it is in our naked self interest too

His "variable geometry" is anchor-less without that critical element & ultimately self defeating

04.03.2026 20:03 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

NSO Group has been sanctioned by the US because of abuses connected to its Pegasus spyware

Of course it's furiously lobbying to get off of those lists, in order to open up the lucrative ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ defence and intelligence contract opportunities

@vaspanagiotopoulos.com describes those efforts in detail ๐Ÿ‘‡

04.03.2026 15:05 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 13    ๐Ÿ” 11    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Iran war heralds era of AI-powered bombing quicker than โ€˜speed of thoughtโ€™ Speed and scale of US militaryโ€™s AI war planning raises fears human decision-making may be sidelined

Anthropic and Palantir tech was used by the US military to target lethal strikes in Iran www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

04.03.2026 12:57 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 8    ๐Ÿ” 8    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

You don't need to hack a device when you can get all you need from real-time data brokerages

The personal data surveillance economy has now become fully integrated into the operations of the police state

Only rigorous and independent oversight of both sectors can preserve rights & freedoms

03.03.2026 16:31 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 51    ๐Ÿ” 21    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Florida wants its own CIA. That could lead to unchecked domestic surveillance | Seth Stern, Lauren Harper and Bobby Block A bill to create a state intelligence operation would allow scrutiny based on โ€˜opinionsโ€™ โ€“ and could prompt other states to follow

Nothing to worry about here

Florida wants its own state-level CIA.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

02.03.2026 21:41 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 17    ๐Ÿ” 8    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

The Austrian Ministry of the Interior bought social media surveillance software 'Tangles' from Cobwebs/Penlink and refuses to tell parliament whether they also bought the intrusive Tangles add-on 'Webloc', which relies on the mass collection of personal data from digital advertising and mobile apps.

20.02.2026 13:49 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 20    ๐Ÿ” 20    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

No "stupid rules of engagement" -- like, you know, the Geneva Convention.

It's clear where the ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ stands on international law.

Question for Canadians ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ: what's our position?

02.03.2026 14:43 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 18    ๐Ÿ” 5    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

1/ NEW: Thereโ€™s currently a heavy push over X in support of (1) the ongoing attacks on Iran (2) Reza Pahlavi. Itโ€™s hard to quickly quantify this wave, but anecdotal evidence shows that the main support hashtags - as well as by the *real* people promoting them - are also pushed inorganically.

02.03.2026 10:02 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 49    ๐Ÿ” 25    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
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Lloyd Axworthy: Canada once rejected Americaโ€™s aggressive, unlawful foreign policy. Today Mark Carney embraced it By endorsing preventive strikes on Iran during ongoing diplomacy, and after Washington itself shredded the previous agreement, we are embracing the very doctrine we used to reject, writes Lloyd Axwort...

"We invoke international law and the 'rules based international order' when adversaries engage in unlawful actions, but abandon those same rules entirely when itโ€™s the Americans doing the bombing."

#Opinion from former foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy

01.03.2026 14:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 276    ๐Ÿ” 129    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 24    ๐Ÿ“Œ 22

Another disturbing signpost of the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ descent into authoritarianism

MAGA friendly consolidation of major streaming , tv, and related media. See below ๐Ÿ‘‡

27.02.2026 04:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Lawmakers say US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone Members of Congress say the U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Patrol drone.

Maybe Claude hallucinated

27.02.2026 03:00 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

And about this below ๐Ÿ‘‡

As a ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, this doesn't exactly make me feel good.

26.02.2026 23:47 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 22    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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About this part below ๐Ÿ‘‡

I've got breaking news for you Anthropic:

The US government is fascist

26.02.2026 23:45 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 22    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War A statement from our CEO on national security uses of AI

Great that Anthropic took this stand against Hegseth and the "Department of War"

BUT....... 1/
www.anthropic.com/news/stateme...

26.02.2026 23:43 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 24    ๐Ÿ” 9    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

100%

Authoritarians work on the basis of personal ties, which of course are arbitrary and often have some kind of corrupt intent.

It's straight out of the despot's playbook.

26.02.2026 21:32 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 40    ๐Ÿ” 13    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Thanks @vaspanagiotopoulos.com about this and also the information about referral to a prosecutor for potential criminal investigations

26.02.2026 20:05 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Great news from ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท & a first for an spyware firm executive: guilty & sentenced to jail for wiretapping & privacy violations

The case has its origins in @citizenlab.ca investigations into the targeting of Greek journalist Thanasis Koukakis, which I wrote about in Chasing Shadows chasingshadowsbook.ca

26.02.2026 16:22 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 9    ๐Ÿ” 7    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Trump's ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ DHS Goon Squad lies to gain entry into Columbia University's residences and then abducts a student

26.02.2026 15:58 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

It is good to see the law being exercised, where those avenues remain, to check and constrain ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ authoritarianism

DOJ seeking to search journalists' data w/o proper legal authorization, judge finds.

26.02.2026 15:02 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 8    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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What Stops ICE from Snatching People Off Canadian Streets? Very Little | The Walrus The legal reality Canadians donโ€™t want to face

Sobering interview in @thewalrus.ca with my @utoronto.ca colleague, constitutional law professor, Kent Roach

What stops ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ICE from snatching people off of Canadian ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ streets?

Answer: not much.

thewalrus.ca/what-stops-i...

25.02.2026 21:23 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 30    ๐Ÿ” 17    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The seamy underbelly of state cyber ops gets a little disinfectant sunlight

25.02.2026 04:00 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 9    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I can confirm. They still have not replied to our last letter with questions.

20.02.2026 00:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 31    ๐Ÿ” 8    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Just imagine what we do not know is happening in the covert realm - and add that to your list of horrors

20.02.2026 00:18 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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โ€˜I literally felt nakedโ€™: Angolan journalist Teixeira Cรขndido targeted with Predator spyware - Committee to Protect Journalists Angolan journalist and lawyer Teixeira Cรขndido wants to know who targeted him with spyware, and he wants justice. โ€œFirst and foremost, we must seek to find out who the entities are that have acquired ...

More reckless abuse of mercenary spyware, in this case, Predator spyware in Angola.

Great work by @donncha.is & colleagues @amnesty.org

cpj.org/2026/02/i-li...

18.02.2026 14:56 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 32    ๐Ÿ” 20    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0