Media, government, and industry commonly frame security and privacy as diametrically opposed: protecting one requires sacrificing the other.
Privacy, Infrastructures, Policy brought together researchers with international speakers from journalism, national security, academia and the corporate world to challenge these misconceptions. A central thread of each of the talks is the design, implementation, and benefits of privacy-enhancing social and technological infrastructures.
Held on February 28, 2020, Privacy, Infrastructures, Policy was hosted by Jennifer Whitson, Assistant Professor in Waterloo’s Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, and Ian Goldberg, Canada Research Chair in Privacy Enhancing Technologies and Professor in the Cheriton School of Computer Science, on behalf of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute and the CrySP Speaker Series on Privacy.
Below are videos of the event’s speakers.
Data is the New Narrative
Julia Angwin
Investigative journalist, Editor-in-Chief of The Markup
Never before has it been possible to collect and distribute so much data. And yet a paradox is that amidst this flood of information, it is increasingly difficult for the public to find meaning amidst all the data they encounter — and people increasingly distrust information they encounter. Julia will discuss how The Markup, a new nonprofit newsroom that will begin publishing soon, aims to build reader trust by anchoring its narratives in public datasets and peer-reviewed statistical analysis, while also pleading to protect reader’s data from surveillance.
Bias in Data-Driven Decision-Making
Maura Grossman
Research Professor, Cheriton School of Computer Science
Director of Women in Computer Science, Cheriton School of Computer Science
Adjunct Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School
Principal, Maura Grossman Law
Today, data-driven decisions are used in everything from credit to education to housing to employment to policing and beyond. Maura’s talk will address whether such data-driven decisions are objective and fair, or whether they simply perpetuate the status quo. How do we balance the competing considerations of the need for broad, representative data sets with the need to protect individual privacy? What can and should technologists and regulators do to address the challenges and opportunities inherent in data-driven decision-making?
Trust and Confidence: The Symbiotic Relationship of Privacy Intelligence in Protecting Canada
Scott Millar
Assistant Deputy Minister (Policy and Communications), Communications Security Establishment
Scott Millar spoke about how Canadians and their data are protected in the course of its foreign intelligence operations. In turn, he spoke about how Communications Security Establishment’s new Canadian Centre for Cyber Security is delivering on its national mandate to protect Canadian information and associate infrastructures from cyber threat actors. Scott addressed the impact of the scale and pace of emerging technological change on the security of Canadians.
Using Tor as a Public Broadcaster
Oliver Linow
Deutsche Welle
From China to Iran, the current restrictions on press freedom also affect international broadcasters such as the BBC, Radio Free Asia or Deutsche Welle. Internet censorship prevents media organizations from distributing their websites in some countries, or from joining in on citizen dialogue on social media in others. Broadcasters are also reliant on information that they receive directly from crisis regions from local staff, where there is no or little freedom of speech.
With the Tor Protocol, it is possible to bypass internet blocking to reach people in countries with censorship and protect journalists from surveillance while researching or working on their content. Because of the benefits provided to media outlets by the Tor Protocol, both the BBC and Deutsche Welle recently launched their own onion services. Oliver Linow spoke about how his experience introducing Tor into Deutsche Welle including the conversations that took place with management and the obstacles faced on the way. He hopes to spark the question, “Why is Tor used so rarely by media outlets?”
GDPR and CPPA and PIPEDA, Oh my!
Cat Coode
Founder, Binary Tattoo
Privacy regulations are often considered a nuisance, but staying compliant ensures that your company is better protected against breaches and that your individual privacy is secured. Cat will explain the basics behind today’s regulations and what you need to know to avoid fines, protect users, and continue to innovate while putting privacy first.