CS 2950-v: Topics in Applied Cryptography: Crypto for Social Good (Fall ‘19)
Meeting Time: TTh 10:30-11:50 AM
Location: CIT 506
Instructor: Seny Kamara (seny@brown.edu)
Seny’s office hours: by appointment, CIT 507
Teaching assistant: Ghous Amjad
Ghous’ Office hours: Wednesday, 2:30-4:30, CIT 423
Description: This course surveys recent developments in applied cryptography. Research in this field is motivated by privacy and security issues that arise in practice from areas like cloud computing, databases, surveillance and finance. Topics will vary each year.
In Fall 2019, the topic will be crypto for social good. We will learn how surveillance has been (and currently is) used to suppress dissent and how new surveillance technologies are deployed against social protest movements, intimate partners and immigrants. We will study how modern cryptography enables new privacy-enhancing technologies and investigate how cryptography can be used to protect dissent and enhance the safety and welfare of marginalized groups.
Prerequisites: None but CS 166 recommended (email instructor if not sure).
Syllabus: pdf
Overview
Topics (tentative)
- Privacy
- Surveillance of social movements
- Sexual misconduct and intimate partner abuse
- Human trafficking
- Privacy-enhancing cryptography (e.g., secure multi-party computation, encrypt ed databases, differential privacy)
There is no textbook required for this course but students may find Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Katz and Lindell helpful to gain familiarity with cryptography. Other recommended (free) resources include Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Bellare and Rogaway and Course in Cryptography by Pass and Shelat.
Schedule
Sept. 05 (Th): Introduction and Overview
Sept. 10 (Tu): Discussion
- P. Rogaway. The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work.
Sept. 12 (Th): Historical surveillance of social movements: South Africa
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T. Jenkin. Talking with Vula (historical)
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D. Ottenheimer. RSAC TV Interview with Tim Jenkin (video)
Sept. 17 (Tu): Historical surveillance of social movements: The US
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The FBI and COINTELPRO
- The US Senate Church Committee. The Church Report—Book II (read pages 1-20) (historical)
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The NYPD
- The CLEAR Project. Mapping Muslims (report)
- Judge Haight. Handschu v. Special Services Div. (background)
Sept. 19 (Th): Introduction to Cryptography
- Introduction to Cryptography & Provable Security (no summary)
Sept. 24 (Tu): Differential privacy
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C. Dwork, F. McSherry, K. Nissim, A. Smith. Calibrating Noise to Sensitivity in Private Data Analysis (research)
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C. Dwork. Differential Privacy: A Survey of Results (optinoal)
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C. Dwork, A. Roth. The Algorithmic Foundations of Differential Privacy (optional)
Sept. 26 (Th): Encrypted databases
- B. Fuller, M. Varia, A. Yerukhimovich, E. Shen, A. Hamlin, V. Gadepally, R. Shay, J. Mitchell, and R. Cunningham. SoK: Cryptographically Protected Database Search (research)
Oct. 01 (Tu): Secure multi-party computation
- D. Evans, V. Kolesnikov, M. Rosulek. A Pragmatic Introduction to Secure Multi-Party Computation (reach Chapter 1) (research)
Oct. 03 (Th): Private set intersection
- M. Ion, B. Kreuter, A. Erhan Nergiz, S. Patel, M. Raykova, S. Saxena, K. Seth, D. Shanahan, M. Yung. On Deploying Secure Computing Commercially: Private Intersection-Sum Protocols and their Business Applications (research)
Oct. 08 (Tu): Secure Messaging
- N. Unger, S. Dechand, J. Bonneau, S. Fahl, H. Perl, I. Goldberg, M. Smith. SoK: Secure Messaging (research)
Oct. 10 (Th): Tor
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R. Dingledine, N. Matthewson, P. Syverson. Tor: The Second-Generation Onion Router (research)
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P. Syverson, G. Tsudik, M. Reed, C. Landwehr. Towards and Analysis of Onion Router Security (research)
Oct. 15 (Tu): Surveillance technologies: facial recognition
- C. Garvie, A. M. Bedoya, J. Frankle. The Perpetual Line Up - Unregulated Police Face Recognition in America (report)
Oct. 17 (Th): Surveillance technologies: Drones
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J. Stanley and C. Crump. Protecting Privacy From Aerial Surveillance (report)
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B. Nassi, A. Shabtai, R. Masuoka, Y. Elovici. SoK - Security and Privacy in the Age of Drones: Threats, Challenges, Solution Mechanisms, and Scientific Gaps (research)
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D. Gettinger, A. Holland Michel, A. Pasternack, J. Koebler, S. Musgrave, J. Rankin. The Drone Primer: A Compendium of the Key Issues (background)
Oct. 22 (Tu): Surveillance technologies: License plate readers
- The EFF. Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) (report)
Oct. 24 (Th): Canceled
Oct. 29 (Tu): Surveillance technologies: IMSI-Catchers (aka Stingrays)
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R. Borgaonkar, A. Martin, S. Park, A. Shaik, J.-P. Seifert. White-Stingray: Evaluating IMSI Catchers Detection Applications (research)
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P. Ney, I. Smith, G. Cadamuro, and T. Kohno. SeaGlass: Enabling City-Wide IMSI-Catcher Detection (research)
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The EFF Threat Lab. Gotta Catch ‘Em All: Understanding How IMSI-Catchers Exploit Cell Networks (Probably) (background)
Oct. 31 (Th): Surveillance of social movements: Black Lives Matter and Standing Rock
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G. Joseph (Intercept). Feds Regularly Monitored Black Lives Matter Since Ferguson (article)
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A. Brown, W. Parrish, A. Speri
Nov. 05 (Tu): Surveillance of social movements: social media
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F. Patel, R. Levinson-Waldman, S. DenUyl, R. Koreh. Social Media Monitoring (report)
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N. Ozer. Police use of social media surveillance software is escalating, and activists are in the digital crosshairs (article)
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L. Fang. The CIA Is Investing in Firms That Mine Your Tweets and Instagram Photos (article)
Nov. 07 (Th): Surveillance databases: gang databases and immigration databases
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Department of Homeland Security. Privacy Impact Assessment for the ICEGangs Database (report)
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The Policing in Chicago Research Group. Tracked and Targeted (report)
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M. Dumke. Chicago’s Gang Database Is Full of Errors (article)
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M. Stern. Federal judge accused ICE of making up evidence to prove that Dreamer was “gang-affiliated.” (article)
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A. Speri. What Happened After The Bronx 120 Raid (article)
Nov. 12 (Tu): Sexual misconduct
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A. Rajan, L. Qin, D. Archer, D. Boneh T. Lepoint, M. Varia. Callisto: A Cryptographic Approach To Detect Serial Predators Of Sexual Misconduct (research)
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B. Kuykendall, H. Krawczyk, T. Rabin. Cryptography for #MeToo (research)
Nov. 14 (Th): Intimate partner violence
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D. Freed, J. Palmer, D. Minchala, K. Levy, T. Ristenpart, N. Dell. “A Stalker’s Paradise”: How Intimate Partner Abusers Exploit Technology (research)
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R. Chatterjee, P. Doerfler, H. Orgad, S. Havron, J. Palmer, D. Freed, K. Levy, N. Dell, D. McCoy, T. Ristenpart. The Spyware Used in Intimate Partner Violence (research)
Nov. 19 (Tu): Human trafficking: Law enforcement
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J. Deeb-Swihart, A. Endert, A. Bruckman. Understanding Law Enforcement Strategies and Needs for Combating Human Trafficking (research)
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United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (background)
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M. Latonero, J. Musto, Z. Boyd, A. Bissel, K. Gibson, J. Kim. The Rise of Mobile and the Diffusion of Technology-Facilitated Trafficking (background)
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J. Musto, d. boyd. The Trafficking-Technology Nexus (background)
Nov. 21 (Th): Human trafficking: victim servicve providers and survivors
- C. Chen, N. Dell, F. Roesner. Computer Security and Privacy in the Interactions Between Victim Service Providers and Human Trafficking Survivors (research)
Nov. 26 (Tu): Human trafficking: Getting data
- J. Brunner. Getting to Good Human Trafficking Data: Assessing the Landscape in Southeast Asia and Promising Practices from ASEAN Governments and Civil Society (report)
Nov. 28 (Th): Thanksgiving
Dec. 03 (Tu): Project Presentations
Dec. 05 (Th): Project Presentations
Additional Resources
- Glencora Borradaile and Michele Gretes from Oregon State University. CS175: Communications Security and Social Movements