SaTC: Frontiers: Collaborative: Protecting Personal Data Flow on the Internet

个人数据的收集通常从用户设备开始，然后与服务提供商和跟踪者共享数据，被恶意行为者获取，和/或用于监视。这些数据带来的服务是以牺牲个人和整个社会的隐私、安全、透明度和公平性为代价的。公众意识的提高导致了具有里程碑意义的数据保护立法，例如欧盟的《通用数据保护条例》（GDPR）和《加州消费者隐私法》（CCPA）。然而，政策制定者需要进一步了解技术，以制定相关和可执行的政策，最终用户仍然需要工具来保护自己。该项目旨在通过提高互联网数据流的透明度和控制来保护个人信息，采用多学科方法，将计算机科学（理论、网络测量、安全）与政策和经济学相结合，并跨越多个应用领域（网络、移动和物联网）。为互联网上的个人信息流以及监测和调解系统开发了概念框架。现有系统被改进用于测量个人信息的跟踪和歧视，以及明确控制隐私-效用权衡。为了提供长期的隐私设计替代方案，该项目追求可验证的物联网架构，寻求分散广告生态系统并消除中介。该项目同样利用技术为策略规范提供信息，并提供审计和执行策略的工具。该项目的广泛影响包括：(1)通过与相关利益相关者的互动，为政策制定者、非营利组织倡导者和行业参与者提供信息；(2)在技术和政策方面共同培养下一代研究生和本科生；(3)扩大妇女、未被充分代表的少数民族和社区大学生的参与。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Personal data collection typically starts on user devices, with the data then shared with service providers and trackers, obtained by malicious actors, and/or used for surveillance. The services enabled by this data come at the expense of privacy, security, transparency, and fairness, for individuals and society as a whole. Increased public awareness has led to landmark legislation on data protection, such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Policymakers need to be further informed by technology, however, to formulate relevant and enforceable policies, and end-users still need tools to protect themselves. This project seeks to protect personal information, by improving the transparency and control of data flow on the Internet, using a multidisciplinary approach that combines methodologies from computer science (theory, network measurement, security) with policy and economics, and crosses multiple application domains (web, mobile, and Internet-of-Things). Conceptual frameworks are developed for personal information flow on the Internet, as well as systems for monitoring and mediation. Existing systems are improved for measuring the tracking and discrimination of personal information, and for explicitly controlling privacy-utility tradeoffs. To provide long-term privacy-by-design alternatives, the project pursues verifiable IoT architectures seeking to decentralize the advertising ecosystem and eliminate intermediaries. The project likewise leverages technology to inform policy specification and to provide tools to audit and enforce policies. The broader impacts of the project include: (1) informing policymakers, nonprofit advocates, and industry players through interactions with relevant stakeholders; (2) training next-generation graduate and undergraduate students jointly in technology and policy; and (3) broadening participation of women, underrepresented minorities, and community college students.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.