Center for Information Technology Policy

11/17/2021

CITP Call for Fellows 2022-23 - The Center for Information Technology Policy fellows’ program offers scholars and practitioners from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to join the Center’s community. The goals of this fully-funded, in-residence program are to support people doing important research and policy engagement related to the Center’s mission and to enrich the Center’s intellectual life. Application review will begin in the middle of December, and we welcome applications from anyone working at the intersection of digital technology and public life. See our website for more Information:

The Center for Information Technology Policy fellows’ program offers scholars and practitioners from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to join the Center’s community. The goals of this fully-funded, in-residence program are to support people doing important research and policy engagement relat...

10/21/2021

CITP Call for Fellows 2022-23!

CITP is seeking applications for the CITP Fellows Program for 2022-23. There are three tracks:

• Postdoctoral track: for people who recently received a Ph.D.
• Visiting Professional track: for academics and professionals (e.g., lawyers, journalists, technologists, former government officials, etc.)
• Microsoft Visiting Professor track: for academics

In this application cycle, we especially welcome applicants with interests in: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and Cryptography.

Application review will begin in the middle of December 2021.

For more information and to apply, please see our Fellows Program webpage:

About | Postdoctoral track | Visiting Professionals track | Microsoft Visiting Professor track | Emerging Scholars | Current and Past Fellows | FAQ

07/07/2021

Congratulations to Eli Lucherini who was recently awarded the the Hamid Biglari *87 Behavioral Science Fellowship for 2021-22 by the Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science & Public Policy and Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs.

Eli Lucherini is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy. His current work is focused on developing novel methods to characterize the societal impact of online machine learning systems. His new simulation tool, T-RECS, provides a lens on the potential effects arising from the actions and interactions of users and content creators in an environment mediated by a recommender system powered by machine learning. Eli’s secondary line of work analyzes the effects of behavioral science research when applied to technology. His study of “dark patterns” (deceiving design patterns on the web) showed how the behavioral science concept of nudges can be weaponized to lead users to buy more or give away more data.

The Center has awarded two fellowships to students pursuing study in the area of behavioral science and public policy. The 2020-21 recipient of the Hamid Biglari *87 Behavioral Science Fellowship is Eli Lucherini; Chelsey Clark is the recipient of the Anna and G. Mason Morfit ’97 Fellowship.

05/19/2021

Computer Science Associate Professor Arvind Narayanan and Computer Science Graduate Student Kevin Lee’s research on the risk of recycling old phone number is discussed in several recent tech site articles. Narayanan and Lee have shown that companies who reuse old phone numbers give the new customers access to the old customer’s information. Their draft paper is entitled “Security and Privacy Risks of Number Recycling at Mobile Carriers in the United States.”

This research has been covered in Gizmodo, BGR, Tech Radar, Tom’s Guide, Vice and CITP’s Freedom to Tinker blog. Links to all the articles and the draft paper can be found here.

Computer Science Associate Professor Arvind Narayanan and Computer Science Graduate Student Kevin Lee’s research on the risk of recycling old phone number is discussed in several recent tech site articles. Narayanan and Lee have shown that companies who reuse old phone numbers give the new custome...

05/11/2021

Joint work from Shaanan Cohney, Ross Teixeira, Anne Kohlbrenner, Mihir Kshirsagar, Arvind Narayanan, Madelyn Sanfilippo and Yan Shvartzshnaider is featured in a story on the front page of the New York Times yesterday with a direct link to the paper! The work addresses the socio-technological impacts of moving to online learning.

The university accused 17 students of cheating on remote exams, raising questions about data mining and sowing mistrust on campus.

04/28/2021

CITP researchers had two papers accepted at the 30th USENIX Security Symposium '21 Summer. 1) Identifying Harmful Media in End-to-End Encrypted Communication: Efficient Private Membership Computation, authors: Anunay Kulshrestha and Jonathan Mayer; and 2) Adapting Security Warnings to Counter Online Disinformation, authors: Ben Kaiser, Jerry Wei, Elena Lucherini, and Kevin Lee, J. Nathan Matias, and Jonathan Mayer. For more information and paper and YouTube links:

Identifying Harmful Media in End-to-End Encrypted Communication: Efficient Private Membership Computation Authors: Anunay Kulshrestha and Jonathan Mayer, Princeton University Click here for YouTube video End-to-end encryption (E2EE) poses a challenge for automated detection of harmful media, such as...

04/02/2021

The first two episodes of A.I. Nation are now available. The podcast features Ed Felten, professor of computer science and founding director of Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, and Philadelphia Public Radio station WHYY host Malcolm Burnley.

“A.I. Nation” is a new podcast by CITP and WHYY exploring artificial intelligence (A.I.) and its implications for our everyday lives.

Episode one, “Hello, World,” will investigate natural language processing (NPL) and automated vehicles. Felten and Burnley experiment with GPT3, an NLP technology developed by Open AI, a research lab founded by Elon Musk and funded by Microsoft. Discussion about the incredible capabilities of GPT3 also include how it can be inconsistent and spread misinformation.

Episode two, “A.I. in the Driver’s Seat,” Felten and Burnley discuss the safety, security and ethical implications of automated machines and some of the reasons why self-driving vehicles are still not available to the public, and how they might be used in the near future.

The first two episodes of A.I. Nation are now available. The podcast features Ed Felten, professor of computer science and founding director of Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, and Philadelphia Public Radio station WHYY host Malcolm Burnley. “A.I. Nation” is a new podcast ...

03/29/2021

CITP Data Scientist Amy Winecoff is featured this week by the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning (CSML). Amy was hired last October as one of several data scientists through Princeton University's Schmidt DataX program. Amy works at the intersection of data, technology and the social sciences. Click here to learn more about Amy research and background and the Schmidt DataX program.

Amy Winecoff’s path to becoming a data scientist at Princeton University was a circuitous one but it has uniquely prepared her for the interdisciplinary work she is doing which touches on engineering, technology, public policy, and the social sciences. Before starting at Princeton in October 2020,...

03/26/2021

CITP is hiring a Communications Manager! The Communications Manager at CITP will serve as the lead for all external and internal communications efforts of the center. This will include developing CITP’s content strategy and managing the center’s website, Freedom to Tinker blog, and social media presence. The position requires coordination and collaboration with researchers at the center, communications groups at Princeton, and, at times, managing freelance specialists.

If you have experiences in writing and editing, the ability to understand and translate tech policy to broader audiences and managing an online presence and outreach, please apply here:
https://main-princeton.icims.com/jobs/12557/communications-manager/job?hub=15&mobile=false&width=1050&height=500&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-300&jun1offset=-240

03/16/2021

CITP's Freedom to Tinker blog (https://freedom-to-tinker.com/) has been named one of the best computer science blogs. https://draft.dev/learn/technical-blogs/computer-science

Detailing 30 of the best computer science blogs, this list will help you continue your education and find enriching, intriguing topics related to this rapidly changing discipline.

03/12/2021

Coming April 1, 2021, Ed Felten, professor of computer science and founding director of Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, and WHYY host Malcolm Burnley will investigate how machine learning, automation, and predictive analytics are impacting our lives right now. The podcast will also consider how we, as digital citizens, can protect ourselves from the inherent bias in these systems, and work towards fairness and social justice. Humanity is at an inflection point. More and more decisions once made by people are being made by machines, often without transparency or accountability.

Listen to the A.I. Nation podcast trailer and stay tuned for more details.

AI Nation investigates how machine learning, automation, and predictive analytics are impacting our lives right now.