thomas howells is online
About me
I am a current master's student at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University, and have an undergrad degree in computer science and philosophy from the University of Toronto. I have previously worked as an offensive and application security specialist. Full CV
Academically and policy-wise, I am interested in:
- Digital advertising and data brokerages, particularly w.r.t. policing, counterterrorism, and repression of civil society
- Canadian digital sovereignty and regulatory capture
- Right to repair, copyright law, and piracy
- Psychological operations, astroturfing, and misinformation on social media (with political motives)
- Social engineering
- Internet-of-things botnets
- The effects of large language models and diffusion models on civil society and democratic norms, especially w.r.t. my other interests
In my free time, I enjoy reading, cooking, talking about arts and culture, coding, and watching films (find me on Letterboxd). I'm currently trying to write more, so I also have a blog that you can view on this site!