Ron Deibert

Labelling domestic political opposition "terrorism"

Researchers say Israeli government likely behind AI-generated disinfo campaign in Iran The group leveraged dozens of social media accounts and “routinely used” AI-generated imagery and video to stoke unrest among Iran’s population, according to Citizen Lab.

cyberscoop.com/citizen-lab-...

5/What strikes me most: Iran’s own repression creates the conditions for this. Decades of censorship and propaganda breed nihilism and distrust, leaving citizens vulnerable to synthetic manipulation.

Our lead author, @fittarelli.com has a detailed 🧵👇

bsky.app/profile/fitt...

The Israeli influence operation in Iran pushing to reinstate the shah monarchy Citizen Lab Found That an Online Network Pushed Out Deepfake Videos During Israel's Airstrikes on Tehran's Evin Prison. An Investigation by TheMarker and Haaretz Reveals the Persian-language Online Ca...

Also, @haaretzcom.bsky.social @themarkup.org has an exclusive companion report here, authored by Gur Megido and Omer Benjakob 👇

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

It's also a violation of academic freedom and the First Amendment of the Constitution

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

We are now moving into the "Golden Age of Transnational Repression," as @nateschenkkan.bsky.social puts it

bsky.app/profile/nate...

Research by @citizenlab.ca @amnesty.org @accessnow.org and others has shown numerous European companies abuse spyware to target activists, journalists, and others

Now we see EU funds have actually helped finance spyware development too

See apache.be/2025/10/01/e...

The US 🇺🇸 gov has moved from combatting, to now openly facilitating, transnational repression

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.

New: ICE has bought a tool that tracks the locations of hundreds of millions of phones globally, updates every single day. Usually harvested from apps and advertising

www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

A "war from within"

Or what is otherwise known as a "civil war"

Every day another descent into a very dark place.

US comedians defend decision to play in Saudi Arabia: ‘They’re paying me enough to look the other way’ Usual supporters of free speech are under fire for signing on to Riyadh festival despite the government’s human rights abuses

Shameless cowards

www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

People of Illinois, we need your help.

Get your cell phones out – record what you see. Put it on social media. Peacefully ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors.

We need to let the world know this is happening – and that we won’t stand for it.

A good post by Bruce Schneier: digital threat modeling under authoritarianism www.schneier.com/blog/archive...

Feds in military gear flood downtown Chicago; top border chief says people arrested based on ‘how they look’ The immigration agents made arrests in downtown Chicago and the River North neighborhood Sunday.

Feds in military gear flood downtown Chicago; top border chief says people arrested based on ‘how they look’

Open racial profiling

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

White House considers funding advantage for colleges that align with Trump policies The proposal has the potential to transform the government’s vast research funding operation, which has long awarded university grants based on scientific merit.

Political loyalty tests for 🇺🇸 universities to receive research funding.

A fundamental violation of academic freedom.

www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Cyber security expert @rondeibert.bsky.social exposes a dark underworld of digital espionage in this Oct 22 event, and in his instant bestselling book, Chasing Shadows. Moderated by William Johnson and presented in partnership with @simonschusterca.bsky.social
writersfest.bc.ca/festival-eve...

A judge investigates the Civil Guard for the first time for spying with Pegasus. A complaint against former directors of the armed forces, Félix Vicente Azón and María Gámez, has been admitted for processing.

A 🇪🇸Barcelona judge has decided to investigate for the first time two fmr Civil Guard directors for spying on the independence movement using Pegasus.The complaint is also vs. the National Intel. Service in this particular espionage case & against executives of NSO Group.

en.ara.cat/politics/jud...

If you would like for me to come to your conference or convening and give a 45-minute rant about what makes good digital privacy trainings and guides, particularly for high-risk populations, hit me up.

I hate to be one of the "told you so" types, but I told you so...

( just a couple of weeks ago: www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...)

Excellent summary of the AI risks to cyber security by @joemenn.bsky.social 👇

CopyCop Deepens Its Playbook with New Websites and Targets CopyCop expands Russian influence ops with 300+ fake websites targeting the US, France, Canada & more—using AI, deepfakes, and GRU-backed infrastructure.

Since March 2025, Insikt Group has observed a Russian covert influence network creating at least 200 new fictional media websites targeting the United States (US), France, & Canada

Uses self-hosted, uncensored large language models (LLMs) to generate content

www.recordedfuture.com/research/cop...

Statement on the fatal flaws found in a defunct CIA covert communications system - The Citizen Lab We identified a network of 885 websites and attributed these websites with high confidence as having been used by the United States (US) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for covert communication.

Let's hope they are doing it more securely than the CIA did citizenlab.ca/2022/09/stat...

ICE unit signs new $3M contract for phone-hacking tech | TechCrunch Homeland Security Investigations, the law enforcement arm of ICE, adds phone-unlocking tech made by Magnet Forensics to its arsenal of technology used to power the Trump administration’s deportation c...

ICE has a new contract with Magnet for its mobile forensic extraction tool Graykey techcrunch.com/2025/09/18/i...

For travellers entering the US 🇺🇸, be prepared for possible device seizures. I spoke about this to CBC The Current @mattgalloway.bsky.social a while back here: www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Meta Accused of Torrenting Porn to Advance Its Goal of AI ‘Superintelligence’ Strike 3 Holdings is suing Meta in federal court, alleging the tech giant pirated copyrighted adult videos to train its AI models.

Meta Accused of Torrenting Porn to Advance Its Goal of AI ‘Superintelligence’

Would you expect anything less?

www.wired.com/story/meta-l...

The fact that there is no "organization" attached to Antifa works in the Trump regime's favour.

Anyone can become a suspect based on fragments of circumstantial evidence.

Even a post like this...

100%

This silly lawsuit, Bondi's eminently wrong statement about hate speech, Blanche's wrong First amendment assertions, Higgins's letters aren't meant to be winners in court. They are meant to intimidate dissenters, chill speech and encourage capitulation. It's a classic SLAPP strategy.

Check out @citizenlab.ca's @sanstis.bsky.social on the extraterritorial human rights dimensions of digital transnational repression 👇

Trump’s War on Big Law Means It’s Harder to Challenge the Administration Some of America’s largest law firms are refusing to take pro bono and paid legal work from groups that seek to hold the government to account on issues like environmental protection, LGBTQ+ rights and...

Trump’s chilling effect on Big Law firms taking on pro bono work has “been a nightmare,” said the president of a small nonprofit that investigates civil rights violations. “People don’t want to stand up, and because of that, people are suffering.”

By @mtredden.bsky.social

Spyware industry pockets EU subsidies while snooping on its citizens The widespread use of commercial spyware for unlawful surveillance across Europe has raised alarm – but the funding of such tools has largely gone under the radar. Follow the Money can reveal how mill...

Spyware industry pockets EU subsidies while snooping on its citizens www.ftm.eu/articles/spy...

Great work by @vaspanagiotopoulos.com showing how EU taxpayer money funds a surveillance industry that sells to authoritarian regimes abroad.