Report

Mon, Jun 24, 2024

User in the Middle: An Interoperability and Security Guide for Policymakers

When technologies work together, it benefits users and the digital ecosystem. Policymakers can advance interoperability and security in tandem by understanding how each impacts the other.

by Maia Hamin, Alphaeus Hanson

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity Standards and Requirements

Wed, Jun 12, 2024

“Reasonable” Cybersecurity in Forty-Seven Cases: The Federal Trade Commission’s Enforcement Actions Against Unfair and Deceptive Cyber Practices

The FTC has brought 47 cases against companies for unfair or deceptive cybersecurity practices. What can we learn from them?

by Isabella Wright, Maia Hamin

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity Standards and Requirements
Generative art showing paper airplanes flying over Red Square in Moscow.

Mon, Jun 10, 2024

Another battlefield: Telegram as a digital front in Russia’s war against Ukraine

In this new report, the DFRLab investigates the role of Telegram in Russia since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine

Conflict Disinformation

Mon, Apr 22, 2024

Markets Matter: A Glance into the Spyware Industry

The Intellexa Consortium is a complex web of holding companies and vendors for spyware and related services. The Consortium represents a compelling example of spyware vendors in the context of the market in which they operate—one which helps facilitate the commercial sale of software driving both human rights and national security risk.

by Jen Roberts, Trey Herr, Emma Taylor, Nitansha Bansal

Civil Society Cybersecurity
Telephone with messaging apps. “Protecting point-to-point messaging apps: Understanding Telegram, WeChat, and WhatsApp in the United States” cover image.

Mon, Aug 14, 2023

Protecting point-to-point messaging apps: Understanding Telegram, WeChat, and WhatsApp in the United States

A year-long project on protecting users' data and privacy that analyzes the growing use of point-to-point messaging platforms in the United States and the implications their design and governing policies have for user privacy and free speech.

by Iria Puyosa

A World Map Of China 3D Rendering - Chinese Discourse Power Cover graphic

Wed, Aug 2, 2023

Chinese discourse power: Capabilities and impact

An examination of China's online and offline channels for the dissemination of "discourse power" and the mechanisms of oversight on which such communications rely.

by Kenton Thibaut

Thu, Jun 29, 2023

The disinformation landscape in West Africa and beyond

A look at West Africa’s information environment, with particular emphasis on local and international disinformation campaigns targeting the region and beyond.

by Tessa Knight, Jean le Roux

Mon, May 15, 2023

What is driving the adoption of Chinese surveillance technology in Africa?

When examining the proliferation of Chinese surveillance systems and cyber capabilities in Africa, research disproportionately focuses on the motivations and ambitions of the supplier. This perspective, while it highlights Chinese diplomatic ambitions and corporate opportunities, ignores local features that drive the adoption of Chinese surveillance tools.

by Bulelani Jili

Mon, Feb 27, 2023

A Parallel Terrain: Public-Private Defense of the Ukrainian Information Environment

The information environment is a key domain through which the war in Ukraine is being contested. By better understanding the key role that private tech companies play in this domain, the USs and Ukraine can better prepare for future threats.

by Emma Schroeder* and Sean Dack

Tue, Dec 6, 2022

An introduction to the Freedom Online Coalition

The Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) is comprised of thirty-four member countries committed to advancing Internet freedom and human rights online.

by Rose Jackson, Leah (Léa) Fiddler, Jacqueline Malaret

Map of the global south in which China uses discourse power.

Wed, Apr 20, 2022

China’s discourse power operations in the Global South

An overview of China’s discourse power activities in the Global South, including the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. It outlines the processes through which China leverages its diplomatic, media, and political positions in these regions to gain influence, and assesses the impacts of these activities for democratic resilience worldwide.

by Kenton Thibaut

Financing & Genocide: Development Finance and the Crisis in the Uyghur Region

Wed, Feb 16, 2022

Financing & genocide: Development finance and the crisis in the Uyghur Region

A joint report that reveals how the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has significant investments in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where indigenous peoples have been subjected to what international legislators, legal scholars, and advocates have determined to be a genocide.

by Laura T. Murphy, Kendyl Salcito, Nyrola Elimä