Hot Topics in Privacy Enhancing Technologies—Spring 2023

Source: https://crysp.uwaterloo.ca/courses/pet/S23/index.html Parent: https://crysp.uwaterloo.ca/courses/

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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.

Classes

This online synchronous seminar will take place within the BigBlueButton (BBB) web conferencing server [a link to the online seminar room can be found on LEARN]. The 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:

• Privacy
• PETs for the Internet
• Private Computation: Trusted Hardware
• Private Computation: Cryptography
• Private Computation: Information Dispersal
• Private Communication: Metadata Protection
• Private Communication: Censorship Resistance

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 1:00 pm 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 55 minutes for the presentation and discussion in total for each paper. Students should follow the presentation checklist when creating their presentations.

Students may choose to present live in the BBB room, or they may pre-record their presentations to be played back in the BBB room during their allotted time. Seminar presentations will be recorded and made available via LEARN for the following 14 days.

Note that all times for this course are specified in Eastern Time (the timezone of Waterloo and Toronto).

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 June 8 at 1:00 pm. 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 August 1, 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 LEARN.

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 the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.]
• Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of their university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. 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 to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for their actions. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.] 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. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
• 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 they have a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.

Note for students with disabilities

AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, 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 AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.

Mental Health Support

All of us need a support system. We encourage you to seek out mental health supports when they are needed.

On-campus Resources:

• Campus Wellness: https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/
• Counselling Services: counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca 519-888-4567 ext. 32655
• MATES: https://wusa.ca/wusa-101-mates/ one-to-one peer support program offered by Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) and Counselling Services: mates@wusa.ca
• Health Services https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/health-services: located across the creek from the Student Life Centre, 519-888-4096.

Off-campus Resources:

• Good2Talk (24/7): Free confidential help line for post-secondary students. Phone: 1-866-925-5454 (Ontario and Nova Scotia only)
• Here 24/7: Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247 (Waterloo Region only)
• OK2BME: set of support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning teens. Phone: 519-884-0000 extension 213 (Waterloo Region only)
• EMPOWER ME  1-833-628-5589 from Canada/US. Other countries see: https://studentcare.ca/rte/en/IHaveAPlan_WUSA_EmpowerMe_EmpowerMe

Diversity

It is our intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, and that students’ learning needs be addressed both in and out of class. We recognize the immense value of the diversity in identities, perspectives, and contributions that students bring, and the benefit it has on our educational environment. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated. Please let us know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally or for other students or student groups. In particular:

• We will gladly honour your request to address you by an alternate/preferred name or gender pronoun. Please advise us of this preference early in the term so we may make appropriate changes to our records.
• We will honour your religious holidays and celebrations. Please inform us of these at the start of the course.
• We will follow AccessAbility Services guidelines and protocols on how to best support students with different learning needs.

Territorial Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that we live and work on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometres on each side of the Grand River.