Campus Calendar

What facts about your life would you prefer that nobody else knew? What facts about other people do you think should be nobody's business but their own? And which of these facts are inferable from the digital trail we leave as we browse the internet, stroll past surveillance cameras, and carry our phones around with us all day?

In this talk, Professor Jeff Ondich will offer a programmer's-eye view of the mechanisms via which our data is collected, aggregated, and used both to create fabulously useful software and to learn altogether too much about us. We'll look at the trade-offs software developers face while handling user data, the damage user data can do, and various attempts governments have made to define and enforce a right to privacy in the digital age. I will finish up by arguing that while a deep understanding of data technology is essential to the development of good privacy policies, a software developer's view of the topic is also entirely insufficient. Solutions to the problems surrounding privacy and surveillance require wide and deep expertise--in brief, they are inherently liberal arts problems. (I'm looking at you, CS majors!)

This talk, the John E. Sawyer lecture, is being offered during the computer science department's weekly CS Tea series, but is geared towards a general Carleton audience. So please come no matter what your background--your presence will make our conversation better!

from Computer Science