Lance Hoffman - School of Engineering and Applied Science, George Washington University
Information Policy In The Post-Attack Age
Oct 17, 2001
Abstract
There are many law and policy issues that computer scientists should know something about, but often don't. Especially in areas of privacy and intellectual property protection, the rules are constantly changing and computer code sometimes doesn't match up with legal code. Avoiding these situations is desirable but sometimes difficult to impossible.
This talk first discusses various perceptions of privacy, what can be monitored and by whom, the push for single sign-on identity checking, privacy-enhancing technologies, and privacy-invading technologies. We then consider the policy and cost implications of peer-to-peer information sharing mechanisms (including some new results using principal agent theory from economics applied to Napster), and other intellectual property questions currently the subject of debate in the computer science and legal communities. Other information policy topics may also be discussed.
We will end with a few thoughts on lessons from computer science for government policy makers in the current post-attack administration, along with lessons to the computer science community from someone with a foot in both camps.
About the Speaker
A Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Dr. Hoffman recently served on the Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security of the Federal Trade Commission. He heads the Steering Committee of the ACM Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy and is GWU\'s representative to the Advisory Committee of the World Wide Web Consortium.
His research interests include Internet voting and privacy policies for electronic commerce, and his recent teaching innovations include multidisciplinary courses on electronic commerce and information warfare.
Ways to Watch
