Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert recently spoke at the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting II on Safeguarding Civil Space in the Digital Age. 

While the growth of the mercenary spyware industry is a major concern, Deibert noted that “spyware is only the sharp point of the spear in a massive, growing, and largely unregulated surveillance marketplace that is deeply anchored in the personal data surveillance economy.”

He called for liberal democratic countries to resist using “national security or counterterrorism as an excuse to override oversight and public accountability.” Instead, “governments must put words into actions…to protect civil society and those most vulnerable to the spread of authoritarianism worldwide.”