IPSI 2010 Research Symposium

I am participating in the IPSI 2010 Research Symposium at the University of Toronto. The theme of the conference is “Developing a Trusted Cyber Infrastructure
for Canadians.” I will be speaking about our research on cyber espionage (although the organizers gave me the curious title for my talk of “Detecting and disabling botnets.” (As an IR theorist and political scientist, the only botnets I’ve discovered are Realists — and they can’t be disabled.) Looks to be a good day of interesting discussions.

IDRC Webcast – The Potential of Open Development for Canada and Abroad

I participated in a live webcast and panel, organized by IDRC, on “The Potential of Open Development for Canada and Abroad,” in Ottawa, May 5th, 2010. Also on the panel were Michael Geist, Sunil Abraham, Anita Gurumurthy, and Yochai Benkler. The panel was hosted by Jesse Brown. We discussed the concept of “openness” in the context of software development, cyberspace governance, development, and human rights

You can see the entire webcast here. Continue reading

CNN China Spat with Google won’t affect relations with U.S.

Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre, which studies the intersection of digital policy and human rights, said Google’s move didn’t come as a surprise.

“It’s become unsustainable for Google to operate in this environment,” he said. “They’ve made a decision that the risks are too great for them, so they’re going to pull out.”

From CNN Continue reading

Risking Security: Policies and Paradoxes of Cyberspace Security

Ronald Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski, “Risking Security: Policies and Paradoxes of Cyberspace Security,” in International Political Sociology, Volume 4 Issue 1, Pages 15 – 32.

Conceptualizations of cyberspace security can be divided into two related dimensions, articulated as “risks”: risks to the physical realm of computer and communication technologies (risks to cyberspace); and risks that arise from cyberspace and are facilitated or generated by its technologies, but do not directly target the infrastructures per se (risks through cyberspace). Continue reading