Glancing around the Citizen Lab, two basement rooms at the Munk School of Global Affairs crammed with half a dozen jean-clad students who look barely old enough to have facial hair, it does not immediately resemble a global hot spot, solving the world's pressing security problems.

But the University of Toronto research centre has rarely strayed far from the spotlight recently, as its human rights work charts the security landscape for the Internet era. Social uprising in the Middle East? Censorship in China? Personal freedom in Tibet? Each of these issues are shaped if not dominated by web technology and the Citizen Lab is in the unique position to track and understand this complex, multi-faceted, public-private space.

The multi-polar approach reflects the background of its founder, Ron Deibert, a nerd-meets-aging-punk type who started out in the ivory towers as a political scientist at the beginning of the decade. Deibert, who is also the director for the University of Toronto's Canada Centre for Global Security Studies, had an interest in liberty and security, and as he studied people like Marshall McLuhan and Harold Innis, he realized he'd hit a "dead end." Much of the groundbreaking work around human rights and personal freedoms had quietly shifted into cyberspace, while the world twiddled its thumbs, largely unaware.

"Looking at satellite reconnaissance I realized that there was this wealth of data that could be tapped into," he says. "I didn't have the skills to do so."

He still doesn't, not entirely -- computer programming isn't his thing -- but what he does have is insight on the issues and strategic partnerships with the right people in Toronto and worldwide. In 2001, he partnered with University of Cambridge fellow Rafal Rohozinski. Together they set up the Citizen Lab with Ford Foundation money. It created a world-changing technology, Psiphon, which allows the citizens of repressive countries -- China, Iran etc. -- to bypass internet firewalls. It was so successful that it branched off into its own company, helping broadcasters access their audience and citizens access information that was censored in their own countries.
 
Then they started joining forces, with Harvard, OpenNet.Asia and forming partnerships with companies: Palantir (a software company based in California), Google, and SecDev (a Ottawa-based technology and global security company).  On a human scale, they extended their web-like reach as they used Toronto's unique multi-cultural student body to gain insight and understanding into conflict and human rights hotspots, from China to the Middle East.

"University of Toronto's student body is really multicultural," explains Rafal Rohozinksi, executive director of SecDev and Psiphon. "These are Iranians expatriates, who lived through the revolution. There are people from the Soviet Union. They come with languages, and skills and a range of life experiences that makes them extremely motivated to work on the kind of stuff we do."

The lab has won a number of awards, including the 2010 Vox Libera, and the Carolyn Tuohy Impact on Public Policy Award. It is also well funded, by ten foundations and companies. But ever the Shiva-like instigator, Deibert says this model must change. Part of their success is to stray greatly from the traditional university-funding model. In an era where colleges sell cheese balls to raise funds,
Deibert has jumped into bed with the private sector, pajamas and all.

"People who work with human rights, cyberspace and freedom issues" can be "loathe to engage the private sector," he explains. "I feel the exact opposite about it. The first thing to understand is that cyberspace is owned and operated by the private sector."

Some of these partnerships might surprise anyone following technology news. Citizen Lab was a vocal critic of Google when it was in China, complying with the government's draconian rules on web censorship. It created a tool to show how the Chinese version of the company didn't provide full and free information, but overtly steered users towards state approved topics. Since Google pulled out of China  however, the company has partnered with Citizen Lab to promote freedom of expression worldwide. They are even jointly presenting a major forum on the issue in Toronto.

The result is a game changer, explains Emily Bell, Director for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University in New York. Citizen Lab is a world leader, she says, holding governments and companies to account, and providing a "watch dog."

"In the old world, you would expect the press to perform some of that function but in the new world, there are people like Ron Deibert and his team really thinking through these problems of transparency, privacy and power. That's a really important powerful combination."

Alexandra Shimo is an author and journalist based on the Ossington strip. She has lived in several cities, including London, New York and Washington D.C. and is now proud to call the T-dot her home.