Today’s links Ron Deibert’s “Chasing Shadows”: How Citizen Lab invented “counterintelligence for civil society.” Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Ron Deibert’s “Chasing Shadows” (permalink) Since 2001, Ron Deibert has led Citizen Lab, the world’s foremost “counterintelligence group for civil society,” where they defend human rights activists, journalists and dissidents from the digital weapons deployed by the world’s worst autocrats and thugs: https://citizenlab.ca/ Citizen Lab’s work is nothing short of breathtaking. For decades, this tiny, barely resourced group at a Canadian university has gone toe to toe with the world’s most powerful cyber arms dealers – and won. Today, Simon and Schuster publishes Hunting Shadows, Deibert’s pulse-pounding, sphinter-tightening true memoir of his battles with the highly secretive industry whose billionaire owners provide mercenary spyware that’s used by torturers, murderers and criminals to terrorize their victims: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Chasing-Shadows/Ronald-J-Deibert/9781668014042 Mercenary spyware companies are based all over the world, but the global leader in providing these tools is Israel, where the signals intelligence Unit 8200 serves as a breeding ground for startup founders who grow wealthy serving dictators around the world, thanks in part to Israel’s lax export standards for cyberweapons. Most notorious of these companies is the NSO Group, whose Pegasus malware has been by corrupt, narco-affiliated Mexican politicians, murderous Saudi royals,…Pluralistic: Ron Deibert's "Chasing Shadows" (04 Feb 2025)

Today’s links Ron Deibert’s “Chasing Shadows”: How Citizen Lab invented “counterintelligence for civil society.” Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Ron Deibert’s “Chasing Shadows” (permalink) Since 2001, Ron Deibert has led Citizen Lab, the world’s foremost “counterintelligence group for civil society,” where they defend human rights activists, journalists and dissidents from the digital weapons deployed by the world’s worst autocrats and thugs: https://citizenlab.ca/ Citizen Lab’s work is nothing short of breathtaking. For decades, this tiny, barely resourced group at a Canadian university has gone toe to toe with the world’s most powerful cyber arms dealers – and won. Today, Simon and Schuster publishes Hunting Shadows, Deibert’s pulse-pounding, sphinter-tightening true memoir of his battles with the highly secretive industry whose billionaire owners provide mercenary spyware that’s used by torturers, murderers and criminals to terrorize their victims: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Chasing-Shadows/Ronald-J-Deibert/9781668014042 Mercenary spyware companies are based all over the world, but the global leader in providing these tools is Israel, where the signals intelligence Unit 8200 serves as a breeding ground for startup founders who grow wealthy serving dictators around the world, thanks in part to Israel’s lax export standards for cyberweapons. Most notorious of these companies is the NSO Group, whose Pegasus malware has been by corrupt, narco-affiliated Mexican politicians, murderous Saudi royals,…Pluralistic: Ron Deibert's "Chasing Shadows" (04 Feb 2025)