Hot Topics in Privacy Enhancing Technologies—Fall 2011

Suggested Reading List

Overview

This is a seminar course that examines current research into technologies that help users maintain their privacy, both online and in the real world.

Lectures

This seminar will primarily consist of reading, reviewing, and presenting research papers. There will be two papers assigned to each class period, selected from the following topics:

• anonymous and pseudonymous communication
• anti-censorship
• traffic analysis
• privacy in peer-to-peer and social networks
• anonymous blacklisting
• web privacy
• privacy-preserving computation

All students are to have read both of the papers before the class, and to have submitted a review for one of them (of the student's choice) by 10:00 am on the day of the lecture. Each paper will be presented to the class by one student, in a 25-minute conference-style presentation. The student presenting the paper will then lead the class in a discussion of the paper, taking 60 minutes for the presentation and discussion in total for each paper.

All students should also submit presentation feedback forms [TXT, PS] (one for each of the two presentations per class period) by noon of the day following the class period. These forms will be made available (anonymously) to the presenter.

Projects

Students will work in pairs on an original research project on some topic related to privacy enhancing technologies. Each pair will submit a proposal to the instructor no later than 14 Oct at noon. Near the end of term, they will present their work to the class in a 30-minute (including five minutes for questions) conference-style presentation. In addition, by the end of term, they will produce a workshop-quality paper, 10–15 pages in length, describing their project.

Grading

Grades for this seminar will be calculated as follows:

Grades will be available after the end of term through UW-ACE.

Academic Integrity

Note that students are not generally permitted to submit the same work for credit in multiple classes. For example, if a student has reviewed or presented one of the papers in another seminar class, he or she should avoid reviewing or presenting it again for this class.

The general university policy:

• Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check http://www.uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity/ for more information.]
• Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm. When in doubt please be certain to contact the department's administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
• Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity [check http://www.uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity/] to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about "rules" for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate Associate Dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/guidelines/penaltyguidelines.htm.
• Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 (Student Petitions and Grievances) (other than a petition) or Policy 71 (Student Discipline) may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 (Student Appeals) http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy72.htm.

Note for Students with Disabilities

The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each academic term.