#rp14 speaker: Morgan Marquis-Boire – Fear and Loathing on the Internet

When Morgan Marquis-Boire goes INTO THE WILD it's not because he's on the run – it's because he's on the attack. Marquis-Boire is a hunter, stalking the digital domain.

His goal is to track and disrupt cyber-attacks on at-risk groups such as journalists, dissidents and activists. In countries like Morocco, Libya, Syria, Iran and Bahrain, where Arab Spring activists are facing digital barrages by authoritarian regimes, his work can save lives. Morgan and his team take a closer look at attacks against NGOs, activists and opposition groups. Step-by-step, attacks are analysed until their origins can be determined. Some of his most recent work includes investigating the malware targeted at the Syrian opposition as well as the spread of the (Made in Germany) surveillance software FinFisher.  The threat is serious and Morgan warns of a new phase in global, digital proliferation.   

Morgan’s talk, “Fear and Loathing on the Internet: The Surveillance Landscape and Coercion Resistant Design”, will cover surveillance software and their design, narratives used by policy makers and industry to justify their use, and how the web and its defenders can develop better tools to counter them.

As researcher and technical advisor for the Citizen Lab in Toronto, Morgan works on international threat analysis and security routines. He also works as Security Engineer at Google focusing on he protection of high risk users and specializing in security operations. Furthermore, Morgan is involved at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

We look forward to Morgan Marquis-Boire, his first hand reports – and his surely unsettling talk at #rp14 – from the front lines of the digital war, where democratic movements are  being smothered by control and surveillance.  

Photo: Mike Wiacek