Skip to the main content
This is a Berkman Klein alum page. The information below may be out of date.

Ron Deibert (PhD, University of British Columbia) is Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary research and development hothouse working at the intersection of the Internet, global security, and human rights. He is a co-founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor (2003-2012) projects.

Deibert was one of the founders and (former) VP of global policy and outreach for Psiphon Inc.

Deibert has published numerous articles, chapters, and books on issues related technology, media, and world politics. He was one of the authors of the Tracking Ghostnet report that documented an alleged cyber-espionage network affecting over 1200 computers in 103 countries, and the Shadows in the Cloud report, which analyzed a cloud-based espionage network. He is a co-editor of three major volumes with MIT Press: Access Denied: The practice and policy of Internet Filtering (2008), Access Controlled: The shaping of power, rights, and rule in cyberspace (2010), and Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace (2011). He is the author of Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia: Communications in World Order Transformation (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), and the forthcoming book Black Code: How the hidden battle for cyberspace is eroding rights and democracy (forthcoming: McClelland & Stewart, 2013).

He has been a consultant and advisor to governments, international organizations, and civil society/NGOs on issues relating to cyber security, cyber crime, online free expression, and access to information. He presently serves on the editorial board of the journals International Political SociologySecurity DialogueExplorations in Media EcologyReview of Policy Research, and Astropolitics.

Deibert is on the advisory board of Access NowPrivacy International, and is a member of the board of directors of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.

Deibert was awarded the University of Toronto Outstanding Teaching Award (2002), the Northrop Frye Distinguished Teaching and Research Award (2002), and the Carolyn Tuohy Award for Public Policy (2010). He was a Ford Foundation research scholar of Information and communication technologies (2002-2004).


Projects & Tools

OpenNet Initiative

A collaborative project between the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; and…


Publications

Nov 3, 2011

Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace

"Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace," edited by Ronald J. Deibert, John G. Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski and Jonathan Zittrain.

Publication
Apr 29, 2010

Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace

"Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace," edited by Ronald J. Deibert, John G. Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski and Jonathan Zittrain, with a foreword by…

Publication
Mar 13, 2008

Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering

Book Description, from Amazon: Many countries around the world block or…


News

Sep 21, 2010

ONI: Policing Content in the Quasi-Public Sphere

The Berkman Center is pleased to share a new bulletin from the OpenNet Initiative: "Policing Content in the Quasi-Public Sphere," which explores centralized platforms serving as…

Jun 18, 2008

Access to Information and Media Control in the P.R.C.

Today, ONI's Ron Deibert testifies about "Access to the Internet and the Participation of U.S. & Western Firms in Chinese Internet Controls" before the U.S.-China Commission...

News
Mar 20, 2008

Access (still) Denied

Yesterday, OpenNet Initiative Principal Investigators Ron Deibert, John Palfrey, and Jonathan Zittrain spoke about their book, Access Denied, on Public Radio International's The…

Mar 17, 2008

Tibet, China and the information gaps between

From the OpenNet Initiative... Despite the approaching Olympic Games, it should come as no surprise to most observers of China that information about the…


Events

Oct 3, 2013 @ 6:00 PM

After Snowden: Towards Distributed Security in Cyberspace.

Ronald Deibert, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto

Cyberspace is ours. It is what we make of it. We need to remember that before it slips through our grasp.

Event
Jan 30, 2007 @ 12:30 PM

Securing Human Rights Online: Addressing Long-term Problems of Sustainability, Coordination, and Resources

Ron Deibert, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto

Ron Deibert on "Securing Human Rights Online: Addressing Long-term Problems of Sustainability, Coordination, and Resources"