Virtual Routes Colloquium is back with a brilliant lineup of speakers for the spring session (February-May 2025) calendar! This year, the sessions focus on power and control in cyberspace.
The hour-long online meetings will take a closer look at how states, private actors, and individuals can leverage and are affected by digital and emerging technologies. We explore how power is asserted in cyberspace by regimes such as China and Iran, tackle the changing roles and responsibilities of private companies for cyber security, and examine the impact of new modes of surveillance and control on the rights and freedoms of individuals. Be sure to tune in!
Digital Embodiments of the Women’s Protest in Iran
February 19, 16:00 CET
Anwar Mhajne (Stonehill College)
This article delves into Twitter’s repressive digital discourse in response to recent demonstrations by the Iranian women’s movement and their increased online presence. We enhance our understanding of online misogyny by examining the language and imagery used to antagonize activists within the movement. Through qualitative analysis, specifically internet ethnography, we focus on hashtags such as #MahsaAmini and #WomanLifeFreedom, posted between October 2022 and May 2023, contributing to the literature on technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
The first part of our analysis identifies those targeting feminist female activists online and explores the methods used in these attacks. We delve into the language and tactics used to undermine and discredit women activists in the protests. Our data reveals critiques from both pro-regime and anti-regime Iranians, including monarchists, on the feminist elements of the protests.
The article underscores the heterogeneity of online misogynistic discourse, emphasizing unique considerations within the repressive campaign. While recognizing the Internet’s revolutionary potential for women’s movements, we advise caution regarding its susceptibility to patriarchal forces that hinder progress.
Sign up HERE.
Hybrid conflicts, cybersecurity and enterprises
March 12, 16:00 CET
Pieter Wolters (Interdisciplinary Hub for Digitalization and Society)
This contribution gives an overview of the European cybersecurity obligations that impose obligations on enterprises and their relevance for hybrid conflicts.
Sign up HERE.
China’s Expanding Cyber Playbook: Espionage, Fear, and Influence in East Asia
April 2, 16:00 CET
Valentin Weber (German Council on Foreign Relations), and Zoë van Doren (Friedrich Naumann Stiftung) presenting an article from Chung-Kuan Chen (CyCraft; Soochow University, Taiwan) and Valentin Weber (German Council on Foreign Relations)
Analyzing the evolving character of China as a cyber actor, this policy paper focuses on operations targeting Japan and Taiwan. It reveals Beijing’s growing sophistication in obscuring cyber activities and their strategies to counter attribution. The findings show how operations against Taiwan aim to undermine economic stability and induce fear, while those targeting Japan gather strategic information for potential future conflicts, including defense and political data.
Sign up HERE.
Digital transnational repression and the practice of dissident cyber-espionage
May 15, 2025 16:00 CET
Siena Anstis (Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto)
Remote-access cyber espionage operations against activists, dissidents or human rights defenders abroad are increasingly a feature of digital transnational repression. This arises when State or State-related actors use digital technologies to silence or stifle dissent from human rights defenders, activists and dissidents abroad through the collection of confidential information that is then weaponized against the target or their networks. Examples include the targeting of Ghanem Al-Masarir (a Saudi dissident living in the United Kingdom), Carine Kanimba (a United States–Belgian dual citizen and daughter of Rwandan activist Paul Rusesabagina living in the United States) and Omar Abdulaziz (another Saudi dissident living in Canada) with NSO Group’s mercenary spyware.
This practice erodes human rights, democracy and the rule of law and has a negative impact on targeted communities, including social isolation, self-censorship, the fragmentation and impairment of transnational political and social advocacy networks, and psychological and social harm. Despite this, international law does little to restrain this practice. Building on momentum around the regulation of mercenary spyware and transnational repression, this article elaborates on how States could consider regulating dissident cyber espionage and streamlines a unified approach among ratifying States addressing issues such as State immunity, burden of proof, export control and international and public–private sector collaboration.
Sign up HERE.
