Emile Dirks
@emiledirks.bsky.social
Senior research associate @citizenlab.ca, board member @pencanada.bsky.social. Researching policing, biometric surveillance, and authoritarianism.
A White House report has defended the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, pushing back against its characterization by a Smithsonian Institution exhibit that the law was racially motivated. www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...
White House Defends 1882 Immigration Law Excluding Chinese Immigrants
The Trump administration is defending the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act against the charge that the law had a racist intent.
forbes.com
|| NEW CALL FOR PAPERS || To mark 30 years since the Hong Kong handover, we welcome scholarly work and practitioners' recollections that revisit overlooked experiences, question established interpretations, or reflect on what lessons may be drawn from the city's history. Pitches due 30 September.
Calls for Papers
Calls for Papers Here you can find the call for papers for the journal issues we are currently working on. The initial pitches should be no longer than 300 words and explain the key argument of your p...
madeinchinajournal.com
China-born scientists having been moving back in growing numbers since Trump 1. It's a new sign entirely an eminent scientist with no ties to China takes a job there. It will be interesting to see if he can stick it out at Tsinghua University, & if other non-Chinese scientists make the same choice
David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 4w agoTrump-induced brain drain
This is reminiscent of the anti-Japanese discourse of the early 1980s that inspired two white guys to murder Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American man who they thought was Japanese. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing...
Killing of Vincent Chin - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 4w agoMarsha Blackburn's new ad is so racist that it makes me wonder if mainstream Republicans could have gotten away with something like this back in the 1980s or 90s.
Taiwanese authorities charge executives who helped China’s cyber spies target ICIJ network The probe corroborates @icij.org & @citizenlab.ca findings that attacks against journalists were part of a coordinated espionage campaign sponsored by Beijing. www.icij.org/investigatio...
Taiwanese authorities charge executives who helped China’s cyber spies target ICIJ network - ICIJ
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau probe corroborates ICIJ and Citizen Lab’s findings that attacks against journalists were part of a coordinated espionage campaign sponsored by Beijing.
icij.org
A lawsuit alleges the Trump administration is divulging details of Iranian asylum seekers to the government of Iran. n.pr/4f0axGX
New lawsuit alleges US shared asylum application details with Iran
A lawsuit alleges the Trump administration is divulging details of Iranian asylum seekers to the government of Iran.
n.pr
Opposition to AI is becoming more confrontational. From alleged attacks on OpenAI to protests over data centres, resistance is escalating as fears grow over jobs, surveillance, and democratic control. Writer Ira Wells asks what happens if public trust keeps eroding. https://ow.ly/8FYc50Zk6I6
Beijing has reportedly detained U.S. Myanmar analyst Min Zin after research into China’s strategic interests in #Myanmar, according to sources cited by Newsweek. The case is raising alarm among researchers & analysts. www.newsweek.com/chinas-strat...
U.S. citizen Min Zin arrested in China over Chinese Myanmar interests
The arrest of American Min Zin in China, apparently over his influential analysis of China's interests in Myanmar, is a warning
newsweek.com
In “How to Combat Transnational Repression,” published in @jodemocracy.bsky.social, Citizen Lab researchers @sanstis.bsky.social and @mmichae1sen.bsky.social write about the lack of accountability for perpetrators of transnational repression. Read: www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/how...
How to Combat Transnational Repression | Journal of Democracy
Authoritarians actively threaten, intimidate, and murder exiles and opponents wherever they find them. While justice for victims is hard won, it is possible. Here is how democracies can push back.
journalofdemocracy.org
Happy to share our article w/ @sanstis.bsky.social in which we explore gaps in justice and accountability for targets of transnational repression.
Journal of Democracy@jodemocracy.bsky.social · last mo.Authoritarians actively threaten, intimidate, and murder exiles and opponents wherever they find them. While justice for victims is hard won, it is possible. Here is how democracies can push back. @sanstis.bsky.social @mmichae1sen.bsky.social @citizenlab.ca muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...
1/ NEW RESEARCH: We find that Russian authorities used Cellebrite to gain access to activist Andrey Pivovarov’s phone. Full brief: citizenlab.ca/research/rus...
Russia Breaks Into Human Rights Activist's Phone With Cellebrite - The Citizen Lab
We analyzed Russian activist Andrey Pivovarov’s phone, finding that Russian authorities used forensic extraction tools made by Cellebrite to gain access to his device. A document prepared by Russian a...
citizenlab.ca
Senior research associate @emiledirks.bsky.social has been elected to serve as a member of @pencanada.bsky.social's board of directors, chairing the new Digital Threats committee: pencanada.ca/who-we-are/l...
Leadership & Staff - PEN Canada
Meet our board members, advisory council, and the PEN Canada staff. Contact us if you have questions or want to get involved.
pencanada.ca
"A punk venue with a decades-long history and a market of people who actually want to be there. Cheap land made it possible. The system, doing what it does, is now making it impossible." venat.substack.com/p/the-purpos...
The Purpose of the System is to Destroy Sneaky Dee’s
Toronto's Anti-Punk Land Use Planning System
venat.substack.com
I wrote about digital ID's shadow: classification, deservedness, and gatekeeping: rebeccawilliams.info/classificati...
Classification, Deservedness, & Gatekeeping
If the shadow of every ID check is permission, then the shadow of digital ID systems is the ability to deny permissions in more places, more often, and with less friction.
rebeccawilliams.info
Taiwan accuses Kenya of deporting conference delegates on China’s behalf. The first African nation to host the global oceans conference defends the deportations, saying it ‘recognises only one China’. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/...
Taiwan accuses Kenya of deporting conference delegates on China’s behalf
First African nation to host the global oceans conference defends deportations, saying it 'recognises only one China'.
aljazeera.com
I am delighted to announce that I have joined @pencanada.bsky.social board of directors. PEN Canada does vital work defending freedom of expression, and aiding writers in peril and exile, in Canada and around the world.
I’m at least 15 years into constantly answering questions about Chinese surveillance tech as cautionary tale and the “public safety” [read: 公安] and ”natsec” [read: 国安] class seems to have just been taking notes.
404 Media@404media.co · 2mo agoSignalTrace "links devices that regularly travel together, correlating them to license plate." It is a surveillance product that will sweep up and add all sorts of Bluetooth and other data to license plate readers, linking specific devices—and people—to cars.
Canada 🇨🇦 proposed new Lawful Access Act #C22 is a total nightmare The Act would allow the govt to compel any electronic service provider (your ISP, telco, coffee shop, library, VPN provider, messenger app etc) to provide backdoor access to targets' accounts & much more Absolutely crazy
It won't be China replacing the United States as premier global power, doing things such as guaranteeing freedom of navigation. It'll be nobody.
I always say China and the US- despite their real differences - have many substantial similarities. This essay from @yilingliu95.bsky.social highlights on of them. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/o...
Opinion | The Shared Feeling of Being Harvested by the Future
nytimes.com
What I find to be uncomfortable is how Chinamaxxing doesn't treat the country as a real place with real problems, it's somewhere that is everything your country isn't
Cooper Lund@cooperlund.online · 3mo agoVery pleased to make my debut in @foreignpolicy.com talking about Chinamaxxing and how it represents China adopting Dubai's soft power model, and what the (very Western) phenomenon misses about China
Again, Xi/🇨🇳 may believe this, & we are stupidly trying to commit hegemonic suicide, but it's important to note that everything folks are rightly worried about in 🇺🇸 (aging personalist authoritarians, corruption, debt, repression, concentration camps, etc.) is far worse in 🇨🇳: bsky.app/profile/mcop...
James Fallows@jfallows.bsky.social · 3mo agoThis by Ryan Hass rings true to what I've seen/ heard/ learned about current PRC leaders' view of US. (TL;DR China has enormous problems, but the US is blowing itself up.) Can't imagine MAGA team has any inkling of this. (Cf: "Quick, easy victory over Iran.") www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
As many are aware by now, @accessnow.org 's annual @rightscon.org was cancelled because of pressure on the host govt Zambia 🇿🇲 by China 🇨🇳 www.rightscon.org/rc26-stateme... In their statement, @accessnow.org rightly flags this is as an example of transnational repression
A statement to our community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia
Our official statement to the digital rights community about why RightsCon 2026 will not take place in Zambia
rightscon.org
Folks, this is how you do it. @accessnow.org not only held the line on foundational principles, but this statement itself is a brave act of resistance to authoritarianism. It illuminates the pressure, coercion, and transnational repression at play - all of which thrive in the shadows.
RightsCon@rightscon.org · 3mo agoFollowing our April 29 announcement, we believe it's important to be transparent about the context that led to the decision. We want to explain, where we can, why this was made on such short notice, only days before we were set to host RightsCon. Read: www.rightscon.org/rc26-stateme...
BREAKING: The Chinese government pressured Zambia to screen + exclude Taiwanese speakers attending @rightscon.org, leading to the largest international convention on digital rights being canceled a week before it takes place, the host org @accessnow.org tells WIRED. By @telliotter.bsky.social + me
The Chinese Government Just Got the World’s Largest Digital Rights Conference Canceled
Access Now, the group that organizes RightsCon, says Zambian officials asked it to exclude Taiwanese participants if it wanted the event to proceed as planned.
wired.com
"In a statement, Access Now says it was “told that diplomats from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) were putting pressure on the Government of Zambia because Taiwanese civil society participants were planning to join us in person.”"
RightsCon@rightscon.org · 3mo agoThe Chinese Government Just Got the World’s Largest Digital Rights Conference Canceled www.wired.com/story/the-ch...
NEW @citizenlab.ca report uncovers two separate China-based cyber espionage campaigns targeting journalists, human rights defenders, exiled ethnic and religious groups and many others. citizenlab.ca/research/how...
Tall Tales: How Chinese Actors Use Impersonation and Stolen Narratives to Perpetuate Digital Transnational Repression - The Citizen Lab
In collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), we identified what we conclude to be two distinct actors aligned with the People’s Republic of China. Our findin...
citizenlab.ca
NEW: we caught 🇨🇳Chinese hackers... again. Twist: they're hacking journalists & activists, but we suspect they're private contractors. State repression... with a profit margin. Thread + how to protect yourself 1/ By my colleagues @citizenlab.ca + @icij.org citizenlab.ca/research/how...
Senior research associate @emiledirks.bsky.social spoke with Domino Theory about Xi Jinping’s view of national security in light of U.S. and Israeli cyber operations in Iran: dominotheory.com/from-stuxnet...
From Stuxnet to Operation Epic Fury: The China-Iran Intelligence Nexus - Domino Theory
Between 2010 and 2012, the CIA’s spy network in China experienced one of the worst intelligence breaches in modern history, leading Beijing to reportedly execute more than 30 U.S. sources. While the e...
dominotheory.com
