Hosted by Wordfest’s Shelley Youngblut, this in-depth discussion about Ronald J. Deibert’s new book—Chasing Shadows: Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy—will explore our relationship to technology at a time when there are fewer guardrails than ever protecting our privacy, safety, and the health of our democracy.
Deibert challenged us in his 2020 CBC Massey Lecture to take stock of the consequences of living in a hyper-connected world where accountability is weak and exploitation is endemic. And this legend in tech and security circles knows what he’s talking about as the director of the Citizen Lab, the world’s foremost digital watch dog. Deibert’s exclusive Calgary event includes an audience Q & A and book signing. You can pre-order your copy of Chasing Shadows here, in addition to his equally vital backlist.
We are grateful to Simon & Schuster Canada for making it possible to connect you with Ronald J. Deibert.
Conversation
Audience Q&A
Book Signing
75 minutes. No intermission.
Simon & Schuster Canada
“A thrilling, terrifying, and, above all, true story of the shadowy industry that makes billions by exploiting defects in our most intimate devices, abetted by powerful autocrats and so-called democracies around the whole. Don’t let this give you nightmares: rather, let it inspire you to demand action!” –Cory Doctorow
In this real-life spy thriller, cyber security expert Ronald Deibert details the unseemly marketplace for high-tech surveillance, professional disinformation, and computerized malfeasance. He reveals how his team of digital sleuths at the Citizen Lab have lifted the lid on dozens of covert operations targeting innocent citizens everywhere.
Conversation
Audience Q&A
Book Signing
75 minutes. No intermission.
Simon & Schuster Canada
Shelley Youngblut is the CEO & Creative Ringleader of Wordfest. She was the recipient of the 2020 Calgary Award for Community Achievement in the Arts and the 2018 Rozsa Award for Arts Leadership. She also won the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Western Magazine Awards. Youngblut was the founding editor of Calgary’s award-winning Swerve magazine and has created magazines for ESPN, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Nickelodeon, Western Living, and The Globe and Mail. She was also a former pop-culture correspondent for ABC World News Now and Canada AM.
In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Iyarhe Nakoda Nations, the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta District 6, and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.