Author: Joe Calandrino
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2020 Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection
Christo Wilson and I are pleased to announce that the Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection (ConPro ’20) is returning for a fourth year, co-located with the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in May 2020. As in past years, ConPro seeks a diverse range of technical research with implications for consumer protection. Past talks…
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The Third Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection
Arvind Narayanan and I are pleased to announce that the Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection (ConPro ’19) will return for a third year! The workshop will once again be co-located with the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, occurring in May 2019. ConPro is a forum for a diverse range of computer science research…
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The Second Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection
Arvind Narayanan and I are excited to announce that the Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection (ConPro ’18) will return in May 2018, once again co-located with the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. The first ConPro brought together researchers from a wide range of disciplines, united by a shared goal of promoting consumer welfare…
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New Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection
[Joe Calandrino is a veteran of Freedom to Tinker and CITP. As long time readers will remember, he did his Ph.D. here, advised by Ed Felten. He recently joined the FTC as research director of OTech, the Office of Technology Research and Investigation. Today we have an exciting announcement. — Arvind Narayanan.] Arvind Narayanan and…
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"You Might Also Like:" Privacy Risks of Collaborative Filtering
Ann Kilzer, Arvind Narayanan, Ed Felten, Vitaly Shmatikov, and I have released a new research paper detailing the privacy risks posed by collaborative filtering recommender systems. To examine the risk, we use public data available from Hunch, LibraryThing, Last.fm, and Amazon in addition to evaluating a synthetic system using data from the Netflix Prize dataset.…
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Ninth Circuit Ruling in MDY v. Blizzard
The Ninth Circuit has ruled on the MDY v. Blizzard case, which involves contract, copyright, and DMCA claims. As with the district court ruling, I’ll withhold comment due to my involvement as an expert in the case, but the decision may be of interest to FTT readers. [Editor: The EFF has initial reactions here. Techdirt…
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Best Practices for Government Datasets: Wrap-Up
[This is the fifth and final post in a series on best practices for government datasets by Harlan Yu and me. (previous posts: 1, 2, 3, 4)] For our final post in this series, we’ll discuss several issues not touched on by earlier posts, including data signing and the use of certain non-text file formats.…
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Correcting Errors and Making Changes
[This is the fourth post in a series on best practices for government datasets by Harlan Yu and me. (previous posts: 1, 2, 3)] Even cautiously edited datasets sometimes contain errors, and even meticulously produced schemas require refinement as circumstances change. While errors or changes create inconvenience for developers, most developers appreciate and prepare for…
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Labeling Dataset Contents
[This is the third post in a series on best practices for government datasets by Harlan Yu and me. (previous posts)] When the government releases a dataset, citizens ideally will discuss the contents and supply educated feedback. The ability to reference facts and figures in a dataset supports a constructive dialog. Vague concerns are harder…
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Basic Data Format Lessons
[This is the second post in a series on best practices for government datasets by Harlan Yu and me. (previous post)] When creating a dataset, the preferences of developers may not be obvious to those producing the dataset. Seemingly innocuous choices by data providers can lead to major headaches for developers. In this post, we…
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Government Datasets That Facilitate Innovation
[This is the first post in a series on best practices for government datasets by Harlan Yu and me.] There’s a growing consensus that the government can increase its openness and transparency by publishing its raw data in bulk online. As several Freedom to Tinker contributors argued in Government Data and the Invisible Hand, publishing…
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Federal Health IT Effort Is Making Progress, Could Benefit from More Transparency
President Obama has indicated that health information technology (HIT) is an important component of his administration’s health care goals. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have lauded the potential for HIT to reduce costs and improve care. In this post, I’ll give some basics about what HIT is, what work is underway, and how…