COMS BC 3420 Privacy in a Networked World
COMS BC 3420 Privacy in a Networked World
| Time: | Wednesdays, 4:10pm - 6:00pm
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| Location: | Milstein LL017 |
Waiting List
This class has only 24 slots, and has been very popular. This
semester, I am handling the waitlist as an instructor-controlled
waiting list. Priority will be given to seniors, and half of the
seats will be reserved for Barnard students. To be considered for
being let into the class, please join the waiting list AND fill
out the form at tinyurl.com/c57c823t, which asks three questions about
your interest in the class. Based on the strength of your answers and
looking to ensure we have a multidisciplinary perspective in the
class, as well as prioritizing seniority and reserving half of the
available slots for Barnard students (assuming sufficient demand), I
will make an initial round of enrollments from the waitlist on June 1,
considering all responses that have been received by 11:59pm ET on
May 31. After that time, I will continue to add new
students to the class as other students drop, including taking into
consideration any additional responses received by that time. I will provide updates here from time to time, with the goal
of helping students plan.
Waitlist update 4/24/2022: After the first registration period, there are 70 students on the waitlist. As noted above, I will process the waitlist to fill the 24 available class slots on June 1. If you are on the waitlist, please make sure to fill out the form at tinyurl.com/c57c823t by May 31 in order to be considered for the class. Based on the current waitlist, if all or most of the students on the waitlist fill out that form with reasonable answers, I would expect that only seniors will be admitted in the June initial round of admits (though other outcomes could be possible).
Waitlist update 6/1/2022: I have admitted 24 students from the
waitlist into the class. (It will take a day or two for it to show up
for those students.) If you have been admitted to the class but no
longer want to take it, please drop the class during your next
registration period so that others can be admitted. I will continue to
admit students to the class as others drop, including taking into
consideration any students who newly are both on the waiting list and
have filled out the assignment 0 form. Some semesters, there is quite
a bit of turnover before classes start and during the first week or so
of class, and other semesters there is very little, so I can't really
predict your chances of getting in to the class if you are still on
the waiting list. That said, it continues to look like it will be all
or mostly only seniors who get in.
Waitlist update 6/25/2022: No students dropped the class during the June 13-24 registration period. I will still continue to add new students from the waiting list (including taking into account the form responses) if/when others drop.
Waitlist update 9/3/2022: Very few students have dropped the class yet. There is usually some movement during the add/drop period at the start of the semester, but not a huge amount. I will continue to add people as others drop.
Office Hours
Prof. Wright's open office hours: typically Thursdays 2-4pm for Fall 2022, but sometimes rescheduled. Complete schedule of office hours.
Course Description
The ubiquity of computers and networks in business, government, recreation, and almost all aspects of daily life has led to a proliferation of online sensitive data: data that, if used improperly, can harm the data subjects. As a result, concern about the use, ownership, control, privacy, and accuracy of these data has become a top priority. This seminar course focuses on the technical challenges of handling sensitive data, the privacy implications of various technologies, and the policy and legal issues facing data subjects, data owners, and data users.
Specific topics to be discussed include:
- what is privacy?
- technology-specific issues (online social media, the Internet of Things, information consolidation, personalization, Internet commerce and payment technologies, ...)
- sector-specific issues (healthcare, finance, national security, Internet applications, Census data, ...)
- privacy legislation
- privacy in the attention economy
- fair information principles
- when cryptography can and cannot help
- anonymity vs. pseudonymity
- differential privacy
- deidentification and risks of reidentification
- tools for privacy management
- public information and privacy
This course is suitable for computer science majors and non-majors,
and we take a multidisciplinary approach to privacy. Coding background
is not required. Course readings draw on a variety of sources,
including both technical materials and the popular press. The course
includes a student-chosen privacy-related project. Projects are largely
student-directed, and can include activities such as a programming
project, a design proposal for a new privacy solution, a survey
article describing the state of the art in a particular area, a public
policy or legal argument, or an article suitable for the popular
press.
We start each class with a discussion of a privacy-related case
study. For each, we frame our discussion around a series of
specific questions, which you can find in the Courseworks site for the
class. Two of your assignments are to present your own case
studies. Some student case studies may be used during class as
examples.
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- demonstrate understanding of privacy issues associated with various technologies and their use.
- compare and contrast different approaches to privacy, and identify examples of when different approaches are relevant.
- develop, refine, and execute a privacy-related project based on feedback and iteration.
- evaluate the potential tradeoffs of privacy and other properties such as usability, transparency, profitability.
Additional Course Information
Additional course information, including a detailed syllabus, reading list, and information about grading, will be available for enrolled students via Courseworks.