As a Senior OTF fellow, Igor Valentovich worked with eQualit.ie to conduct a comparative research on the progress of information controls in the former Soviet Union space.
He investigated instances of blocking and DDoS attacks against the online platforms of local civil society projects to identify common trends and isolate potent triggers of Internet censorship in the region. His research also shed light on censors’ blocking strategies and capabilities. Igor collaborated with another fellow, Ksenia Ermoshina. The results were published in summary form and will be presented at a conference in the summer of 2019.
Igor holds a doctoral degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto. For his dissertation project, he conducted a comparative analysis of the media and political spheres of the largest ethnic minority groups in Europe. Igor accumulated comprehensive knowledge of the development of the Internet sphere and information controls in the former Soviet Union countries while working as a researcher at the Citizen Lab and regional program director at Psiphon Inc.
