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Ron Deibert’s blog.

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

Google, China, and the coming threat from cyberspace

Published in the Christian Science Monitor

By Ron Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski

Cyberspace attacks are set to increase. Here’s why – and here’s what we can do to stop them.

The recent cyberespionage attacks on Google and that company’s subsequent announcement that it would reconsider its search engine services in China gripped the world’s focus and set off a debate about China’s aggressive cybersecurity strategy.
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NY Times Room For Debate – Can Google Beat China

More Than a Tech Problem

For years, innovative solutions to sidestep Internet filters have plagued Internet censors. Rebellious kids, hoping to sneak a peek around parental controls, have come up with some of the best of these ideas. Others are highly sophisticated open-source systems tended to by brainy PhD.’s and caffeine-fueled programmers.
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Google, China and a wake-up call to protect the Net (Globe and Mail comment)

By Ron Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski

 

Action is needed at the global level to ensure that cyberspace doesn’t slip into a new dark age

Google’s announcement that it had been hit by cyberattacks from China and that it’s reconsidering its services in that country has smacked the world like a thunderclap: Why the drastic move? How will China respond? Will other companies with interests in China, such as Microsoft and Yahoo, follow suit? What does it mean for the future of cyberspace?
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Google Fallout

Google’s New Approach

 
There has been quite a lot of coverage of Google’s statement concerning the attacks it experienced and its reconsideration of its service offerings in China. Google made reference to our Ghostnet investigation, and felt that there might be a direct connection between the two. At this point, and with the evidence at hand, we believe they are similar in nature, but probably distinct attacks. Much more, I’m sure, will be revealed in weeks to come. Citizen Lab associates have been commenting on the attacks and the wider implications in the press and elsewhere. Below are some selected sources:

Citizen Lab, Psiphon and SecDev’s Nart Villeneuve’s reaction

Globe and Mail editorial

Christian Science Monitor

Wall Street Journal

New York Times

Globe and Mail

CBC As it Happens (My interview starts at the beginning of Part 3)