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Privacy Systems and Applications Seminar
As technology becomes prevalent, we carry more and more devices everywhere we go and our digital trail becomes more and more pronounced. On the one hand, digitalization brings enormous benefits. On the other hand, it makes it almost much easier to violate user's privacy, to surveil large fractions of a population, and sometimes even to control or influence what people do and think.
In this seminar, we will look at privacy-enhancing technologies, digital means that can help counteract this reduction in privacy caused by increasing digitalization.
We will read and discuss new and seminal papers to learn about new techniques and ideas in the field of privacy-enhancing technologies. You will learn how to critically analyze and present existing research papers, emulate a small scale conference, and think about your own research ideas.
Example of topics covered will include:
- Systems for End-to-End Privacy
- Anonymous Communication Systems
- Private Set Intersection
- Private Information Retrieval
- Fully-Homomorphic Encryption
- Censorship Resistance Systems
Organization (TBC):
- Every student will present one / two research paper and animate a discussion session about it.
- For every presented paper, remaining students will read the paper and write a “review” (like a program committee for a real conference)
- All students will also propose a couple of research ideas that would extend the work presented (e.g., application, solving a shortcoming, etc.)
- By the end of the semester, each student will submit a paper surveying the topic that they presented (based on the papers they read as well as other papers in the area). This paper should incorporate the discussion in class and critically reflect on / explore potential future research directions.
Requirement:
- Basics of cryptography and security: required
- Advanced cryptography and PETs: strongly recommended
Grading:
The final grade for this course consists of the presentation(s), the reviews, the summary, and the participation throughout the semester.
Grading subject to small changes. Details will be explained in the first lecture.
Registration:
Please register on LSF by November 17th
Location and Time:
Kick-off: Friday, October 24th 9:15-11:00 in E9 1 (CISPA main building) room 0.02
Oct 28 – Submit paper suggestions
Oct 30 – Submit bids on papers
Nov 21 – Reviews due
Dec 5 – Presentations (in person: allocate whole morning)
Feb 27 – Final paper submission
Mar 5-6 – Paper submission debrief (tentative)