from Publications - The Citizen Lab
Citizen Lab’s research were featured in programs on Middle Eastern democracy by Alhurra and the world of online mercenaries offering hacking services by VICE.
The “Eye on Democracy” is a weekly show is aired by Alhurra, an Arabic-language channel based in the United States. The show explores issues and challenges related to freedom and democracy in the Middle East and North Africa, and is hosted by Haidar Emraheb. Recently, the program discussed governments targeting dissidents in the Middle East with spyware, and featured Citizen Lab Senior Research Fellow Bill Marczak discussing recent FinFisher and Hacking Team reports, and their relevance to this regional context.
Watch the full Alhurra episode in Arabic.
Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert and Senior Research Fellow Bill Marczak were also interviewed in VICE’s Cyber Mercenaries episode, as part of their Cyberwar series. The documentary highlight’s Citizen Lab’s role in uncovering the use of spyware marketed by FinFisher and Hacking Team by repressive regimes to spy on democracy and opposition activists in several countries. Bill Marczak described the process by which the Ethiopian government was discovered to be using Hacking Team’s products. Deibert argued that the examples of governments ramping up their surveillance capabilities was clear indication of the need for oversight. “We don’t have enough weight behind the idea of watching the watchers,” he said.
Watch the full Cyber Mercenaries documentary. Bill Marczak and Ron Deibert’s interviews begin at the 3:00 mark.
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