The CBC's SearchEngine podcast delved into the GhostNet story that broke yesterday, in which the University of Toronto's CitizenLab discovered and revealed a spy-ring (apparently of Chinese origin) that was gathering intelligence from sensitive government, military and NGO computers in over 100 countries. CitizenLab's researchers managed to gain access to the control server for these spy-trojans, and got an unprecedented look at the extent to which these machines were compromised (for example, they saw the spymasters activating the cameras on compromised machines and watching meetings and other sensitive communications).

SearchEngine and CitizenLab went well beyond the news coverage and had a fascinating discussion about what this means: how it signals a turning point in the ongoing militarization of cyberspace, and whether this demands a comparable peace movement for the Internet. It was one of the most fascinating things I've heard said about the Net this year, and I think I'll be listening to it again, just to get a good crack at it.

Podcast #27: exposing the world's biggest cyberspy ring

MP3 Link