On May 15, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will host it’s next Washington Area Trustworthy Computing Hour (WATCH) talk. The talk will be “STAR-Vote – A Secure, Transparent, Auditable and Reliable Voting System.” The speaker will be Dan Wallach, professor in the Department of Computer Science and a Rice Scholar at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas. From the abstract: STAR-Vote is a collaboration between a number of academics and the Travis County (Austin), Texas elections office, which currently uses a DRE voting system and previously used an optical scan voting system. STAR-Vote represents a rare opportunity for a variety of sophisticated technologies, such as end-to-end cryptography and […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is pleased to announce a Distinguished Lecture on Monday, May 12, 2014 at 2:00 pm (EDT) by Dr. Erik Brynjolfsson titled The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. Brynjolfsson is the Schussel Family Professor at the  MIT Sloan School of Management , Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business, Chair of the MIT Sloan Management Review, and the Editor of the Information Systems Network. His research and teaching focuses on how businesses can effectively use information technology in general and the Internet in particular. Abstract: We are at an inflection point in our economy.  A wave of exponential, digital and […]

The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) released a new National Academies report, At the Nexus of Cybersecurity and Public Policy: Some Basic Concepts and Issues. As we as a nation become more dependent on information and information technology, cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important.  The report highlights 6 key findings about cybersecurity and public policy: Cybersecurity is a never-ending battle, and a permanently decisive solution to the problem will not be found in the forseeable future. Improvements to the cybersecurity posture of individuals, firms, government agencies, and the nation have considerable value in reducing the loss and damage that may be associated with cybersecurity breachers. Improvements to cybersecurity call for two distinct […]

In January, President Obama asked for a comprehensive review of policy issues on big data and privacy during his speech on signals intelligence.  As a part of the comprehensive review, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) was asked to examine the topic.  PCAST setup a working group, co-chaired by Members William Press and Susan Graham, who is also the Chair of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC).  The working group has reviewed the technical literature, consulted with experts, and engaged with the broader community of social scientists and law for perspective to produce a report titled Big Data and Privacy: A Technological Perspective. The Report highlights five recommendations: […]