Category: Uncategorized
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CITP Case Study on Regulating Facial Recognition Technology in Canada
Canada, like many jurisdictions in the United States, is grappling with the growing usage of facial recognition technology in the private and public sectors. This technology is being deployed at a rapid pace in airports, retail stores, social media platforms, and by law enforcement – with little oversight from the government. To help address this…
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Recommendations for introducing greater safeguards and transparency into CS conference funding
In Part 1 of this piece, I provided evidence of the extent to which some of the world’s top computer science conferences are financially reliant upon some of the world’s most powerful technology companies. In this second part, I lay out a set of recommendations for ways to help ensure that these entanglements of industry…
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Holding Purveyors of “Dark Patterns” for Online Travel Bookings Accountable
Last week, my former colleagues at the New York Attorney General’s Office (NYAG), scored a $2.6 million settlement with Fareportal – a large online travel agency that used deceptive practices, known as “dark patterns,” to manipulate consumers to book online travel. The investigation exposes how Fareportal, which operates under several brands, including CheapOair and OneTravel…
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The tech industry controls CS conference funding. What are the dangers?
Research about the influence of computing technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), on society relies heavily upon the financial support of the very companies that produce those technologies. Corporations like Google, Microsoft, and IBM spend millions of dollars each year to sponsor labs, professorships, PhD programs, and conferences in fields like computer science (CS) and…
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Attackers exploit fundamental flaw in the web’s security to steal $2 million in cryptocurrency
By Henry Birge-Lee, Liang Wang, Grace Cimaszewski, Jennifer Rexford and Prateek Mittal On Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022, attackers stole approximately $2 million worth of cryptocurrency from users of the Korean crypto exchange KLAYswap. This theft, which was detailed in a Korean-language blog post by the security firm S2W, exploited systemic vulnerabilities in the Internet’s routing…
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Calling for Investing in Equitable AI Research in Nation’s Strategic Plan
By Solon Barocas, Sayash Kapoor, Mihir Kshirsagar, and Arvind Narayanan In response to the Request for Information to the Update of the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan (“Strategic Plan”) we submitted comments providing suggestions for how the Strategic Plan for government funding priorities should focus resources to address societal issues such as…
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T’Mobile: Deleting Stale Data Reduces Liability
T-Mobile’s data breach in August 2021 exposed the social security numbers and drivers license numbers for over 40 million former or prospective customers. I recently discovered that I was one such victim because of an alert that popped up on my phone this weekend from my credit monitoring service. I was surprised because I have…
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“Signal Loss” and advertising privacy on Facebook
The 2021 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology, a major award administered by a Japanese foundation, goes to Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, a Chinese computer scientist who earned PhDs from Harvard and the University of Illinois before being a professor at MIT, Stanford, and Princeton and then becoming Dean of an important theoretical computer science education program…
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Faculty search in information technology policy
I’m happy to announce that Princeton University is recruiting a faculty member in information technology policy. The position is open rank — assistant, associate, or full professor — and we welcome applicants from any relevant discipline. The successful candidate will likely be jointly appointed in the School of Public and International Affairs and a disciplinary…
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CITP Emerging Scholars Application is Open
The CITP Emerging Scholars program is a post-baccalaureate program that brings in people who have a bachelor’s degree for two-year staff positions at CITP. The program provides intensive research and/or work experience with real impact, along with coursework and mentoring. The ideal outcome for participants is to either enter a competitive graduate program or to…