Saad Hammadi

Inviting Canadian technology stakeholders to participate in this survey to:

🔹 Shape the national technology agenda as thought leaders.
🔹 Enrich empirical data with insights.
🔹 Be part of @BalsillieSIA's wider advocacy network.

Access the survey here:
wlu.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

YouTube video by The Newsmakers South and Southeast Asia's Gen Z rages against the political elite and corruption

Behind the Gen Z uprising is an entrenched frustration over poor leadership and governance. The future can be uncertain but what the youth have lived over the last two decades is not something they wish to live in.

youtube.com/shorts/mXtD-...

YouTube video by The Newsmakers Nepo Babies, corruption & inequality: Asia's Gen Z rises up against the elite

Human rights should be at the centre and heart of policies that governments define and not repeat the violations that youth have aspired to walk away from. I spoke about the Gen Z uprising in Asia with Andrea Sanke in TRTWorld.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya8Q...

Enjoyed the #snowbirds performing at the Canadian International Air Show 2025 up close.

How things unfolded inside Uttara Adhunik Hospital after the jet crash Between 2:30pm and 4:30pm, a charred body of a child and more than 100 injured victims were rushed to Uttara Adhunik Hospital

Heartbroken by the loss of lives of children at a school this afternoon in Dhaka after a training jet of #BangladeshAirForce crashed. Thinking of the children, the families living through this horror, and those tirelessly supporting the treatment efforts.

www.thedailystar.net/news/banglad...

A Juggling Act: Canada’s Role in the Global Regulation of Responsible Military AI Amidst continued geopolitical challenges and the desire to align with allies, Canada recognizes that its role in the global regulation of military AI hangs in the balance.. Case study by Branka Marija...

Amidst geopolitical challenges and desire to align with allies, Canada's role in the global regulation of military AI hangs in the balance. @brankamarijan.bsky.social discusses in this Balsillie Case Study the legal and ethical aspects in the military AI governance.
balsilliecases.ca/case-study/a...

The untold stories behind student deaths abroad This week, a Bangladeshi student was found dead in an apartment in Japan

The anxiety that some Bangladeshi students experience abroad isn't isolated. A brilliant and a niche piece by the eloquent writer and a comms professional Syed Tashfin Chowdhury about the psychosocial support that not many people talk about.

www.thedailystar.net/opinion/view...

Urgent need to protect civilians amid unprecedented escalation in hostilities between Israel and Iran As more and more civilians bear the cruel toll of the terrifying military escalation in Iran and Israel since 13 June 2025, and amid threats of further escalation in the conflict, Amnesty Internationa...

Urgent need to protect civilians amid unprecedented escalation in hostilities between Israel and Iran 👇
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...

web page of case study The Challenges of Accountability in AI for Immigration: The IRCC and Canadian AI Governance and its abstract

New publication alert! The Challenges of Accountability in AI for Immigration: The IRCC and Canadian AI Governance

balsilliecases.ca/case-study/t...

I'm delighted to be elected Director at @amnesty.ca Board of Directors. It is an honor, privilege and a great opportunity to serve in the cause of human rights and give back to the movement.

Prime Minister Carney must take decisive action to end genocide in Gaza — Alex Neve: Moving Rights Along We write because of the catastrophic human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, now into its twentieth month, which is broadly understood by international law experts and leading human rights organ...

In our Open Letter to @MarkJCarney @AnitaAnandMP, 412 legal, human rights, diplomatic, international affairs, social justice, civil society, faith & labour leaders & experts make it clear: Canada must act to end genocide in #Gaza. 🧵1/10

Consent or Compromise? The Hidden Costs of AI in Cervical Cancer Screening In an era when AI holds a seemingly endless horizon of potential, is the race to develop it leading us to deprioritize the security of those systems and the rights of the patients within them? Case St...

In the latest Balsillie Case Study, authors Karen Yeates and Taim Saeed present a multi-faceted challenge of balancing technological innovation with ethical responsibility.

Access the case study here: balsilliecases.ca/case-study/c...

Combating disinformation is key to restoring trust in journalism Press freedom must be protected from the concerted disinformation patronised by some platforms and actors.

In an Op-Ed for The Daily Star on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, BSIA Fellow Saad Hammadi (@saadhammadi.bsky.social) discusses why a systematic approach to combating disinformation is critical to reinforce confidence in journalism.

www.thedailystar.net/opinion/view...

Combating disinformation is key to restoring trust in journalism Press freedom must be protected from the concerted disinformation patronised by some platforms and actors.

The dissemination of news has never been faster and more multi-modal than it is today. The content and reliability of news have also never been this questionable. My latest on the occasion of #WorldPressFreedomDay

www.thedailystar.net/opinion/view...

"We are going to build. Build, baby, build!" - Canada's PM-elect @mark-carney.bsky.social. The resilience in the humor offsetting his neighbouring counterpart.

Facebook’s Role in Rohingya Atrocities Underlines Big Tech’s Accountability Gap With access to justice for survivors of tech harms apparently blocked in the United States, what paths toward accountability and remedy remain? Case Study by Pat de Brún.

Pleased to share this compelling Balsillie Case Study by Amnesty International's Head of Big Tech Accountability @patdebrun.bsky.social about Big Tech's accountability gap by examining Facebook's role in Rohingya atrocities

balsilliecases.ca/case-study/f...

Canada is lagging in innovation, and that’s a problem for funding the programs we care about If Canadians want to fund education, health care and climate adaptation, Canada must grow its economy. And to do that, it needs smarter innovation policy.

Canada’s over-reliance on research and development (R&D) spending and patent counts has failed to translate into commercial success. Canada ranks among the highest in public R&D investment but among the lowest in innovation outcomes. | By Andrew Maxwell

theconversation.com/canada-is-la...

HIV and the Volatile New World Order: From Declining Pandemic to One Crisis among Many - Balsillie Papers Warren Parker and Alan WhitesideIn the initial months of the second Trump administration, abrupt policy shifts placed the lives of millions of people living with HIV at risk and significantly weakened...

In the latest Balsillie Paper, BSIA Fellows Alan Whiteside and Warren Parker discuss the ramifications that the US aid cut has on HIV response globally and argue that this is a wakeup call to move beyond dominant siloed approaches.

balsilliepapers.ca/bsia-paper/h...

An incredibly resourceful session on combating disinformation this evening at the @balsillieschool.bsky.social dissecting real events, the EU measures with the Digital Services Act and lessons for Canada.

@marcuskolga.bsky.social
@abridgman.bsky.social
@annfitzgerald.bsky.social

The Citizen Lab’s Brave Fight Against Spyware Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, has drawn attention to human rights abuses in digital realms and worked to make the online world safer for all.

Counterintelligence for civil society! An excellent tribute to @citizenlab.ca and @rondeibert.bsky.social by former Balsillie Scholar Matt Malone. The piece is also quite telling about governments and intel agencies' lack of transparency in the way they operate.

www.cigionline.org/articles/the...

Wishing all those celebrating Eid, a warm Eid Mubarak!

Do Human Rights Have a Future? The strategies that once guided advocacy are no longer adequate in a world led by strongmen.

An incredibly well written critique of Ken Roth's book by @omarwaraich.bsky.social and his colleague, comparing Roth's views of human rights with the changing realities that challenge human rights, justice and rules based international order like never before.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/14/h...

Overnight the social media is filled with Studio Ghibli like art.

🔹What happens with the photos being deposited with ChatGPT, are they also not being used to train the LLM? What are the security and privacy implications?
🔹Isn't it infringement of Ghibli's art-tech IP?

The Right to Repair in Canada: Advantages and Pitfalls Despite Canada’s recent progress on right to repair laws, this case study argues that the questions of who has the right to repair and under what conditions remain core concerns. Case Study by Natasha...

Restrictions imposed by manufacturers on the right to repair of IoT products have serious implications on end users as well as the Canadian economy. New Balsillie Case Study by
@ntusikov.bsky.social imparts critical knowledge on law, technology and right to repair.
balsilliecases.ca/case-study/t...

Duterte flown to The Hague after arrest over Philippines drug war killings Ex-president to face charges of crimes against humanity over ‘war on drugs’ that rights groups say left 30,000 dead

For all the frustrations over international legal systems falling short of enforcement, this is terrific news. This is about justice finally taking its course.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Opinion: DeepSeek just changed the AI Game — but is Canada even playing? The real economic impact of artificial intelligence will come from how businesses apply it, not from who builds the models

Canada's AI investment focuses on compute infrastructure. Meanwhile, little to no funding is allocated to fostering AI adoption or literacy. That’s like building libraries while neglecting to teach Canadians how to read.
By @joelblit.bsky.social

www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

Opinion: There is a method to Donald Trump’s madness Canada must look beyond the rhetoric in responding to U.S. policy shifts

By my colleagues @annfitzgerald.bsky.social and @ciuriakd.bsky.social:

The US policies and geopolitics at waging trade wars and forging ties with Russia, although stem from a longstanding effort to contain China, has implications for Canada and its allies.

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Technology at the Borders: Surveillance, Control and Resistance in EU Migration Governance - Balsillie Papers Fatmanur DeliogluThis paper examines the integration of advanced surveillance technologies in the European Union, the multiple uses of technologies, and their impact on migrants and migration manageme...

In the latest Balsillie Paper, BSIA PhD student Fatmanur Delioglu discusses the increasing use of surveillance technologies at the EU borders and their impact on migrants and migration governance.

balsilliepapers.ca/bsia-paper/t...

Saad Hammadi @saadhammadi.bsky.social, the Editor of the Balsillie Case Studies explains why the cases are a value for money for classroom and policymaking exercise on technology governance. For more visit: www.balsilliecases.ca

Consent, Pay or Settle: Meta’s Struggle for Staying Profitable in the European Union Meta’s shift from the “consent-or-pay” model highlights the challenges of balancing consumer privacy and profitability in digital markets. Case Study by Lex Zard.

In a Balsillie Case Study @lexzard.bsky.social provides insights into Meta's business models to stay profile in the EU and discusses the policy considerations to address concerns about surveillance advertising and user privacy.

balsilliecases.ca/case-study/c...