Ronald James Deibert (born 1964) is a Canadian

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political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, philosopher, founder and director of the Citizen Lab at the

Munk School of Global Affairs The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary academic centre located at the St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. It offers various research and educational programs in global affairs ...

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. He was a co-founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor projects. Deibert was one of the founders and former VP of global policy and outreach for Psiphon.

The Citizen Lab

As founder and director of the Citizen Lab, Deibert has overseen and been a contributing author to more than 170 reports covering research on cyber espionage, commercial spyware, Internet censorship, and human rights. The Citizen Lab has been remarkably effective in holding governments and private-sector firms accountable for using information technology to endanger people. Researchers from the Citizen Lab contribute to the global understanding of spyware abuse through their expertise. Writing for the Guardian in 2021, John Naughton said "Deibert has built a formidable team that functions as a kind of National Security Agency for civil society."

Massey Lectures

In 2020, he gave the annual Massey Lectures for the

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, and they were published in book form under the title ''Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society''. The book won the 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing."Citizen Lab's Ronald Deibert wins $25K Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing"
'' Pique Newsmagazine'', September 22, 2021.

Other work

Deibert presently serves on the editorial boards of the journals '' International Political Sociology'', Explorations in Media Ecology, '' Review of Policy Research'', '' Journal of Global Security Studies'', and Astropolitics. He has served on the advisory boards of Access Now, Privacy International, the technical advisory groups of

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and

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

, and is currently on the advisory boards of PEN Canada and the Design 4 Democracy Coalition, the steering committee of the World Movement for Democracy, the advisory board for the Citizen Clinic at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and co-chair of the

's Information Security Council.

Awards and Nominations

Deibert's work has been widely recognised and respected.He has been awarded the University of Toronto's President's Impact Award (2017), ''

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s Global Thinker Award (2017), the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

Pioneer award (2015), the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity (2014), the Advancement of Intellectual Freedom in Canada Award from the Canadian Library Association (2014), the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression Vox Libera Award (2010), the Carolyn Tuohy Award for Public Policy (2010), the Northrop Frye Distinguished Teaching and Research Award (2003), and the University of Toronto Outstanding Teaching Award (2002). He was a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

research scholar of information and communication technologies (2002–2004). In 2019, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Guelph. He was named a Global Thinker by

(2017), one of ''

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'' website's "Humans of the Year" (2017), listed among ''SC Magazines top "IT Security Luminaries" (2010), and ''

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'' magazine's Best and Brightest List of 2007. In 2013, he was made a Member of the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the Executive Council ...

and awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, for being "among the first to recognize and take measures to mitigate growing threats to communications rights, openness and security worldwide." He was appointed to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 2022, with the rank of Officer. ''Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society'' won the 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

Publications

Co-edited by Deibert

*''Access Denied: The practice and policy of Internet Filtering'' (MIT Press, 2008) *''Access Controlled: The shaping of power, rights, and rule in cyberspace'' (MIT Press, 2010) *''Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace'' (MIT Press, 2011)

Authored by Deibert

*''Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia: Communications in World Order Transformation'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) *''Black Code: Surveillance, Privacy, and the Dark Side of the Internet'' (

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

, 2013). Turned into a feature-length documentary '' Black Code'' by Nicholas de Pencier in 2016. *''Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society'' (September, 2020) – Massey Lectures *

References

External links

Academic website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deibert, Ronald 1964 births Living people Members of the Order of Ontario Writers from Toronto Academic staff of the University of Toronto University of British Columbia alumni Canadian political scientists Canadian male non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Officers of the Order of Canada