Privacy issues have been getting increasing attention from law makers, regulators, and the media. As a result, businesses are under pressure to draft privacy policies and post them on their web sites, chief privacy officers are becoming essential members of many enterprises, and companies are taking pro-active steps to avoid the potential reputation damage of a privacy mistake. As new technologies are developed, they increasingly raise privacy concerns -- the World Wide Web, wireless location-based services, and RFID chips are just a few examples. In addition, the recent focus on national security and fighting terrorism has brought with it new concerns about governmental intrusions on personal privacy. This course provides an indepth look into privacy, privacy laws, and privacy-related technologies and self-regulatory efforts. Students will study privacy from philosophical, historical, legal, policy, and technical perspectives. This course is intended primarily for advanced undergraduate students (juniors and seniors) studying computer science or computer engineering; however, it is appropriate for other undergraduate majors who have strong technical backgrounds. Graduate students may also enroll in this course at the graduate level (they will be expected to take on more substantial projects than the undergraduate students). This course will include a lot of reading, writing, and class discussion. Students will be able to tailor their assignments to their skills and interests, focusing more on programming or writing papers as they see fit. However, all students will be expected to do some writing and some technical work.
Privacy issues have been getting increasing attention from law makers, regulators, and the media. As a result, businesses are under pressure to draft privacy policies and post them on their web sites, chief privacy officers are becoming essential members of many enterprises, and companies are taking pro-active steps to avoid the potential reputation damage of a privacy mistake. As new technologies are developed, they increasingly raise privacy concerns -- the World Wide Web, wireless location-based services, and RFID chips are just a few examples. In addition, the recent focus on national security and fighting terrorism has brought with it new concerns about governmental intrusions on personal privacy. This course provides an indepth look into privacy, privacy laws, and privacy-related technologies and self-regulatory efforts. Students will study privacy from philosophical, historical, legal, policy, and technical perspectives. This course is intended primarily for advanced undergraduate students (juniors and seniors) studying computer science or computer engineering; however, it is appropriate for other undergraduate majors who have strong technical backgrounds. Graduate students may also enroll in this course at the graduate level (they will be expected to take on more substantial projects than the undergraduate students). This course will include a lot of reading, writing, and class discussion. Students will be able to tailor their assignments to their skills and interests, focusing more on programming or writing papers as they see fit. However, all students will be expected to do some writing and some technical work.
