8-533 / 8-733 / 19-608 / 95-818: Privacy Policy, Law, and Technology

Homework 6 - due November 5, 2015

Don't forget to properly cite all sources (including assigned readings) and include a bibliography with all homework assignments.

Reading assignment: October 27-November 5 readings

1. [20 points] 12-unit students: Read and write a summary of one optional reading paper. After each summary (in a separate paragraph) provide a "highlight" for that chapter. This can be something new you learned that you found particularly interesting, a point you would like to discuss further in class, a question the chapter did not fully answer, something you found confusing, a point you disagree with, or anything else you found noteworthy.

2. [35 points] Reflect on your visit to the CMU Biometrics Lab. Select one technology that you saw and discuss all of the following issues in a one-page essay.

• Briefly describe how this biometric is used for identification and/or authentication
• Describe two specific applications for which this biometric is currently used. (Or if it is only in the research prototype stage, describe two applications for which it is being proposed.) For each application, be sure to say whether the biometric is being used for identification or authentication (or both).
• Does this technology raise privacy concerns, or or does it address privacy concerns?

3. [35 points] What data collection is facilitated by sensors, beacons, and other devices found in public spaces in Newell-Simon Hall? Find as many of these public data collection points in Newell-Simon Hall as you can. Make a list of the types of devices you find and roughly where they are (if you find a lot of the same kind you don't need to list all of them) and, if possible, include photos of some of them. Try to find out what data is being collected and what that data is being used for. Propose a way to notify people who spend time in NSH about these devices and how the data is used.

4. [15 points]

• Which location technologies described in class work by receiving transmissions to the device (e.g. smartphone) without sending any signals from the device? Please list all.
• If the smartphone does not send signals to get the location in the technologies you just listed, describe why there could still be privacy concerns. (2 paragraphs)

5. [15 points] Elsa sees an ad for silver gloves with red rubies on her Facebook page, just the day after she browsed on-line shops for silver gloves with red rubies. Describe and draw a simple diagram illustrating the mechanisms used to provide this ad to her. [Hint, some appropriate terminology and definitions were discussed in the October 6 lecture.]