CS 410/510: Introduction to Privacy-aware Computing

Course Description

Organizations today collect, store, analyze, and process user data for various purposes. Often, this data is managed without considering user privacy which puts user’s sensitive information at risk. In this course, we will study privacy in a broad sense and look at the challenges and opportunities of incorporating privacy into computing.

In the course, we will explore the following topics:

• What and Why of Privacy?
• Principles of Privacy-aware computing/Privacy-by Design
• Privacy Regulations and compliance
• Privacy Policies
• Access control
• Anonymization techniques
• Differential Privacy
• Privacy-preserving Machine Learning
• Federated Learning

… and more topics depending upon time.

Please see the schedule for final lecture topics and dates. In addition to the instructor lectures, the course will feature guest speakers presenting their latest research on topics on some of these topics.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to

• Explain the importance of the privacy in computing
• Describe various kinds of challenges to protecting privacy of individuals data
• Learn about different approaches to privacy-aware computing, encompassing the what, how, and when of using these techniques
• Integrate privacy-aware computing techniques to a project of your choice
• Read a research paper and prepare a review on the strengths and weaknesses of the paper
• Explore privacy regulations and how to check for compliance
• Develop intuitions for privacy and think like a privacy engineer/researcher

Prerequisites

• Prior course work in algorithms, databases, and probability will be helpful for certain topics covered in the class.
• Comfortable with programming in Python for assignment(s).
• Curiosity for research.

If you are unsure about any of the requirements, get in touch with the instructor.

Reference Textbook

This course does not require a formal textbook. Instead, the course readings will be derived from online articles, seminal research papers, and other relevant sources. The syllabus and slides will offer both required and supplementary reading resources for this class.

Grading Components (tentative)

• Paper reading and discussion
• Project
• Assignments
• In-class and online quizzes

Late Submission Policy

Each student/group is allowed an additional extra day (24 hours) past the deadline for each submission (except for paper reviews/presentations).

No other homeworks, mid-terms, or finals.

Attendance policy

This is a hybrid class and will require in-person attendance for some number of classes (Please check the schedule regularly). Thus, this class cannot be completed entirely online and there will be no Zoom meetings during the in-person classes in FAB 170. If you are unable to attend the in-person sessions, this will have an impact on your ability to satisfy the course learning objectives and therefore on the final grade! If you are unable to attend a class either online or in-person, please email the instructor in advance.

Communication

• Canvas Discussions: Offical class communication channel for finding teammates, paper discussions, and asking questions.
• Office hours: Zoom.
• Email: Use either [CS410] or [CS510] in the subject of the email. Expected response time for emails is 48 hours. Feel free to send follow-up reminders if you haven’t received replies beyond this time. Failure to follow this instructions will result in delay of response.

Course Policies

Please refer to the policies page.

Flexibility Statement

The instructor reserves the right to modify course content and/or substitute assignments and learning activities in response to institutional, weather, or class situations.

Take care of yourself!

As a student, you may experience a wide variety of challenges to your physical and mental health, that can interfere with learning. Help is available on campus and an important aspect of taking care of yourself is learning how to ask for help. Talk to the instructor, if you are struggling with any aspect of the course. Ask for help early. We cannot change the past, but can influence the future. Confidential counseling services are available at PSU. Please refer to the Student Crisis Resource Card for a list of phone numbers, contacts and support resources.