Computer Science | Grinnell College

April 30 CS Table location: JRC 224B, noon.

Recently, Facebook announced that it will be partnering with the Social Science Research Network to provide anonymized Facebook data to Social Science Researchers. This week in CS table, we will discuss some related issues with big data and anonymity.

Sarah E. Igo (7 October 2018). We Are All Research Subjects Now - And Cold War-era safeguards won’t protect us. Chronicle of Higher Education.

Jon P. Daries, Justin Reich, Jim Waldo, Elise M. Young, Jonathan Whittinghill, Andrew Dean Ho, Daniel Thomas Seaton, and Isaac Chuang. 2014. Privacy, anonymity, and big data in the social sciences. Commun. ACM 57, 9 (September 2014), 56-63.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–12:50pm. Most CS Tables for the spring semester will meet in JRC 224B inside the Marketplace, though a small number will be in an alternate location, so watch each week for the location. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the Marketplace front desk).

Feb. 12 CS Table location: JRC 224B

In CS Table on Feb. 12, we will discuss some of the concerns around sharing location data and the implications that sharing location information can have for individuals and society. We will read about two separate cases to inform our discussion.

In the first case, we will read about how cell phone companies sell users’ location information to third parties. Cox, Joseph (2019). I Gave a Bounty Hunter $300, Then He Located Our Phone. Motherboard..

The second case is a recent development in New York City, where police officers object to sharing the locations of officers conducting sobriety checks. Gold, Michael (2019). Google and Waze Must Stop Sharing Drunken-Driving Checkpoints, New York Police Demand. The New York Times..

As you read about each case, consider the following questions: who owns location data, when is it acceptable for location data to be shared, and what are the consequences of sharing location data?

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–12:50pm. Most CS Tables for the spring semester will meet in JRC 224B inside the Marketplace, though a small number will be in an alternate location, so watch each week for the location. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the Marketplace front desk).

We'll be discussing the recent passing of the Stop Enabling Online Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA) and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and its implications for human trafficking and digital privacy.

• This Slate article summarizes these developments: April Glaser, After Backpage, Slate.com. April 27, 2018.
• An optional reading is a brief article from the EFF: Elliot Harmon, How Congress Censored the Internet, Electric Frontier Foundation. March 21, 2018.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–12:45pm in JRC 224A (inside the Marketplace). Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the Marketplace front desk).

We will consider the implications of two models that websites can use to generate revenue from their users: advertising and cryptocurrency mining. Advertising has been a popular model for website operators to generate revenue even though visitors do not pay to access their content, but advertising has some significant problems with security and privacy. We’ll explore these problems, look at two new approaches, and think generally about how web companies should generate the revenue they need to pay their bills while respecting and protecting their users.

While there are many excellent articles on the wide variety of issues related to this topic, the first three readings listed should serve as a good foundation for our discussion. The additional optional readings raise some important issues that we hope to touch on in the discussion, so take a look at one or two that interest you.

Readings:

• Kate Cox. Five Things We’ve Learned About How Companies Track You Online and Off. Consumerist. Jan 25, 2017.
• Alan Toner. The False Teeth of Chrome's Ad Filter. The Electronic Frontier Foundation. Feb 15, 2018.
• Jon Brodkin. Salon to ad blockers: Can we use your browser to mine cryptocurrency?. Ars Technica. Feb 13, 2018.

Additional readings:

• Peter Eckersley. How Online Tracking Companies Know Most of What You Do Online (and What Social Networks Are Doing to Help Them). The Electronic Frontier Foundation. Sep 21, 2009.
• Jennifer Langston. For $1000, anyone can purchase online ads to track your location and app use. University of Washington News. Oct 18, 2017.
• Mike Orcutt. Hijacking Computers to Mine Cryptocurrency Is All the Rage. MIT Technology Review. Oct 5, 2017.
• Panopticlick 3.0: Is your browser safe against tracking?. The Electronic Frontier Foundation.
• Coinhive: A Crypto Miner for your Website.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–12:45pm in JRC 224A (inside the Marketplace). Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the Marketplace front desk).

Note: we return to our usual conference room in the 2nd floor of the JRC dining hall starting this week (JRC224B)

This week in CS table we’ll be exploring doxing, the public broadcasting of someone's personally identifiable information (PII) publicly, usually through the internet.  Doxing is frequently associated (negatively) with Internet vigilantism and hacktivism, i.e., using PII to harass or extort an individual en mass.  Why do people dox others?  How easy is it to dox someone?  Is there ever a time or place where doxing is an acceptable action?  Think about these questions as you read these selected articles on doxing and protecting your PII on the internet.

• Nellie Bowles.  How ‘Doxxing’ Became a Mainstream Tool in the Culture Wars.  The New York Times.  8/30/2017.
• Joseph Cox.  I was taught to dox by a master.  The Daily Dot.  1/6/2016.
• Patrick Klepek.  How To Protect Your Information From The Internet.  Kotaku.  1/26/2015.
• S.E. Smith.  Anonymous is doxing KKK members (and I’m OK with it).  The Daily Dot.  11/17/2014.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–1:00pm in JRC 224B (inside the Marketplace). Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the JRC front desk).

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has put together a detailed guide of a number of recommended practices used to maintain privacy and security at https://ssd.eff.org/, which we will rely on for this week's discussion. Please complete the following readings before Tuesday:

1. An Introduction to Threat Modeling. EFF Surveillance Self-Defense Guide.
2. Seven Steps to Digital Security. EFF Surveillance Self-Defense Guide.
3. At least one other overview, topic, or briefing from the SSD guide.

If you have specific practices that you use and would be willing to share, please come prepared to demonstrate or describe them. When you choose additional readings, you are encouraged to look for guides that you think are relevant to your own use of technology.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00-1:00pm in JRC 224B. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

Join us at the CS Table on Tuesday, September 20, in JRC 224B. We will discuss the conflict between privacy and the internet of things (IoT).

The first two articles describe a Portland-based startup installing IoT devices in rentals. The company also has a promotional video I recommend watching.

• The Internet of Anything: The Startup Bringing the Smart Home to Apartment Renters. Klint Finley, Wired.
• This Start-Up Brings the Internet of Things to Millennial Renters. Zach Dundas, Portland Monthly.
• Promotional video

• Companies need to share how they use our data. Here are some ideas. Stacey Higginbotham, Fortune.
• Reading 4 is a long report from the FTC on IoT privacy. I recommend reading the legislative recommendations on page 47. Internet of Things: Privacy & Security in a Connected World. FTC Staff Report.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00-1:00pm in JRC 224B. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

For the CS Table on September 13, Peter-Michael Osera would like to discuss data collection and privacy in a place we normally don’t consider: higher education. In efforts to streamline operations and better the student experience via data analytics, universities are frequently turning to the cloud for answers. Does this have implications for how we as students and faculty manage our data? Read these two articles:

• Goldie Blumenstyk. "As Big Data Comes to College, Officials Wrestle to Set New Ethical Norms”. In The Chronicle of Higher Education. June 28, 2016. http://www.chronicle.com/article/As-Big-Data-Comes-to-College/236934 (Original link, paywall) http://www.chronicle.com.grinnell.idm.oclc.org/article/As-Big-Data-Comes-to-College/236934 (Stable link through Grinnell’s proxy, free)
• Emin Gün Sirer. "Outsourcing in Higher Ed Considered Harmful”. In Hacking, Distributed. August 29, 2016 http://hackingdistributed.com/2016/08/29/outsourcing-in-higher-ed-considered-harmful/

Printed copies of the readings will be available after noon on Friday at Charlie Curtsinger’s office (Noyce 3827). In addition to the readings, there is a short “homework” activity to get you in the spirit of the discussion. Try to answer these brief questions:

1. What FERPA is and how does it relate to your personal information? Read more about FERPA here: US DOE. "Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)”. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html
2. Grinnell employs a number of third-party services that handle our (digital) data in various ways. List as many as you can.
3. Why can these third-party services handle sensitive data that would otherwise be protected by FERPA? Look to FERPA FAQ, US DOE. “FERPA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)”. http://familypolicy.ed.gov/faq-page#t62n218

Completing this homework isn’t required to attend CS Table, but we will start the discussion by tackling these questions. So please come prepared if you have the time!

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00-1:00pm in JRC 224B. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

During the CS Table on November 10, 2015, we will be discussing the possibility of building back doors into cryptographic standards for use by law enforcement, and the broader issues surrounding privacy, cryptography, and law enforcement. There are three (brief) articles on the subject that give a good introduction to the technical and political issues around this debate.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00-12:45 in JRC 224C. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department. For the up-to-date CS Table schedule, please visit the CS Table webpage.

On Friday, 26 September 2014, at CS Table, we will consider some recent ethical issues with the use of "Big Data" in social sciences research, including data from xMOOCs (Massive, Open, Online, Courses). Our reading will include a short article from Atlantic Monthly on the recent Facebook Controversy and a CACM article on uses of xMOOC data.

Sara M. Watson. Data Science: What the Facebook Controversy is Really About. The Atlantic. July 1, 2014. Available online at http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/data-science-what-the-facebook-controversy-is-really-about/373770/>.

Facebook has always “manipulated” the results shown in its users’ News Feeds by filtering and personalizing for relevance. But this weekend, the social giant seemed to cross a line, when it announced that it engineered emotional responses two years ago in an “emotional contagion” experiment, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Since then, critics have examined many facets of the experiment, including itsdesign, methodology, approval process, and ethics. Each of these tacks tacitly accepts something important, though: the validity of Facebook’s science and scholarship. There is a more fundamental question in all this: What does it mean when we call proprietary data research data science?

As a society, we haven't fully established how we ought to think about data science in practice. It's time to start hashing that out.

Jon P. Daries, Justin Reich, Jim Waldo, Elise M. Young, Jonathan Whittinghill, Andrew Dean Ho, Daniel Thomas Seaton, and Isaac Chuang. 2014. Privacy, anonymity, and big data in the social sciences. Commun. ACM 57, 9 (September 2014), 56-63. DOI=10.1145/2643132 https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2663191.2643132.

Open data has tremendous potential for science, but, in human subjects research, there is a tension between privacy and releasing high-quality open data. Federal law governing student privacy and the release of student records suggests that anonymizing student data protects student privacy. Guided by this standard, we de-identified and released a data set from 16 MOOCs (massive open online courses) from MITx and HarvardX on the edX platform. In this article, we show that these and other de-identification procedures necessitate changes to data sets that threaten replication and extension of baseline analyses. To balance student privacy and the benefits of open data, we suggest focusing on protecting privacy without anonymizing data by instead expanding policies that compel researchers to uphold the privacy of the subjects in open data sets. If we want to have high-quality social science research and also protect the privacy of human subjects, we must eventually have trust in researchers. Otherwise, we'll always have the strict tradeoff between anonymity and science illustrated here.

Printed copies of the readings are available next to Science 3821.

Computer science table is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Fridays from 12:10-12:50 in the Day PDR (JRC 224A). Contact Sam Rebelsky rebelsky@grinnell.edu for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.