If you've ever felt like your personal technology devices know you a little too well, this podcast is for you. Here's a short introduction to Cookies: Tech Security & Privacy, brought to you by the Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science.
When we use the internet, most of us don't think twice about entering our credit card numbers and we don't tend to worry that someone might be looking over our shoulder. Our guest today, Jennifer Rexford, knows better than most how the internet works and what kind of vulnerabilities exist that allow hackers to exploit its weaknesses. She's the Gordon Y.S. Wu professor in engineering, a professor of computer science and the chair of that department here at Princeton. She's won several awards for her research into the way internet traffic is routed. Jen is a 1991 graduate of Princeton with a degree in electrical engineering. She received her Ph. D. from the University of Michigan. She worked at AT&T Labs before joining the Princeton faculty in 2005. ...
When you’re shopping for a new gadget online, there’s a good chance you consulted the reviews on YouTube. So many of them are well produced and very thoughtful takes on the latest computer or camera equipment, services, even food and toys. But are they unbiased? Our guest today, Michael Swart, says a lot of them are practically paid commercials without even telling you. And he has a way to tell the difference. ...
While we're using electronic gadgets, apps, platforms and websites, they are often using us as well, including tracking our personal data. The premiere episode of our new podcast features Arvind Narayanan, associate professor of computer science here at the Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is a widely recognized expert in the area of information privacy and fairness in machine learning. This conversation was so good, we split it into two episodes. This is the first half of our conversation. In this half, he discusses “cross-device tracking,” in which one electronic device (say, your work laptop) sends you ads based on your browsing activity on another device (say, your mobile phone). He talks about which web browsers are more likely to allow third-party trackers to record your activity. And he talks about steps you can take to protect yourself against these trackers. ...
