Check out the final reports here
Masks: the final report
What is Masks Redux
Today is a big day for Masks. We’ve transcribed interviews, distilled research, committed code, and designed prototypes, all of which will be described in our final report we’ll be filing tonight. The project has been a exploratory process, and we’re filling in the last pieces of the map of our journey. We started out with …
Silence
I’ve been silent for a while. Or at least, that’s what you may think. Actually, I’ve been working away behind the scenes of this particular stage, debating points with friends, screaming silently on Twitter late at night, and interviewing people about the finer points of our arguments. This is the way learning goes. If it …
The Case for Privacy Design Analysis
There’s been a lot of negative publicity about the photo sharing application Color, specifically about its privacy controls. You can view photos from anyone around you without asking permission. Your photos can’t be unshared, or deleted. And, since geolocation data can be spoofed, an enterprising coder can access anyone’s photos. Some have suggested that Color’s …
Getting Started with Privacy Design Analysis
One problem we’re looking at in Masks is the relative lack of tools for designing systems that preserve privacy in the face of other, sometimes conflicting goals. Designing for privacy is difficult for several reasons: Privacy is contextual: What is privacy invasion to one person is a useful service to another. Privacy is based on …
Can we have our cake and eat it too?
I’m going to be speaking at the Digital Media and Learning conference this weekend about issues of privacy and publicity in online learning systems, asking specifically whether it is possible to design learning systems that employ social media while still preserving privacy. Dan Perkel, John Jones, Stuart Geiger, and I will be talking in the …
Masks and P2PU: Values in Design
Imagine you’re building an online community of volunteers across the world to address an awesome opportunity on the web – free access to high-quality education. The community is about openness – you want to encourage anyone to participate, contribute, and lead. There’s passion and potential surrounding the project, and people are excited to be a …
Privacy Month, InfoCamp
Whew! February has been “privacy month” for us. In addition to our Privacy Technologies course and our Technology & Policy Lab, we’ve attended five different privacy events: Churchill Club, Location and Privacy: Where Are We Headed? TRUST Security Seminar, Do Not Track: Technology, Policy, and Politics Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, Browser Privacy Mechanisms …
What if?
What would an online classroom look like if we recreated the norms of privacy and publicity that exist in a face-to-face classroom environment? Obviously they wouldn’t recreate the norms perfectly and may introduce new norms, but it’s an interesting thought experiment. Principles: Bounded, transparent systems: Students and facilitators should be aware of exactly which individuals …
Facebook Login & Privacy Pitfalls
Facebook Login (formerly Facebook Connect) has become a prominent, if not dominant, form of identity on the web. A recent report suggested that there are five times as many sites that offer Facebook Login (250,000) than offer OpenID (50,000). Why is Facebook Login diffusing so rapidly? There are two main reasons, and both have to …
