Homework for Privacy and Online Social Networks (COMS E6998-004)

INFORMATION

This is the homework page for COMS E6998-004: Privacy and Online Social Networks, Spring 2014. Please see the course homepage for more information about the course.

INSTRUCTIONS

• Please complete the homework as a .txt, .pdf, or .doc[x] file.
• We recommend (but do not require) that you use LaTeX to create your assignment. Here is a handy template you can use: homework.tex, homework.cls. These handy templates are shamelessly stolen from Daniel Hsu, who shamelessly stole them from Rocco Servedio.
• Make sure your name and UNI is on every page of the assignment.
• Submit all assignments to Courseworks, underneath the "Assignments" section.
• If you have questions, please contact Chris the TA at mani@cs.columbia.edu

POLICIES

• The deadlines are actually deadlines. With emphasis on dead! If you turn in your homework late, whether 1 minute or 1 day, you will get a zero on that assignment.
• If you have a technical problem submitting via Courseworks near the deadline, you can email your assignment to the TA. However, we will take off 25%. The assignments are not very long and you have been given significant advance notice of the deadlines, so submitting to Courseworks shouldn't be an issue.
• Cite your sources. As the instructor says in the syllabus: "all [assignment] work has to be just yours. It is important and I take it seriously. If I detect violation, I will ensure that you are referred to the Academic Committee. It will affect your grade. Discussion is ok but copying is lame. If you improperly help someone else then I consider you to have cheated as well. I look for leakages in my research; so chances of you escaping scrutiny" are low.
• As always, if you have questions, please contact Chris the TA at mani@cs.columbia.edu

ASSIGNMENTS

Homework 1: Assigned Wednesday 2014-01-22.

Due at 2:15pm on Wednesday, 2014-01-29

• This assignment should fit in a single page.
• Question 1: Write two paragraphs on your views on privacy both offline and online
• Question 2: Write one paragraph answering what you think the differences are between (a) privacy and security, (b) privacy and anonymity.
• Question 3: What steps/tools/techniques do you use to protect your online privacy?
• Question 4 (optional): Why is Bala not using Piazza for this course?

Homework 2: Assigned Wednesday 2014-02-05.

Due at 2:15pm on Wednesday, 2014-02-12

• Compare and contrast (at least 3-4) OSNs key privacy setting options
• This assignment should fit in a single page.
• Be sure to write your name on your assignment.

Homework 3: Assigned Wednesday 2014-02-19.

Due at 2:15pm on Wednesday, 2014-03-05

For this assignment, you will do a critical evaluation of the privacy settings on all OSNs, which will involve the following:

• Create a taxonomy of privacy settings.
• Argue the merits and impacts of each feature.
• Cite papers as needed.

Some questions you should be asking:

• What information is protected?
• What is not protected?
• Is there a way to improve any of these?

The maximum length is 6 pages. It can be fewer.

This will serve as an indication of if you have digested the papers that been mentioned thus far in class. It will show if you are beginning to have a good handle on the planned project. Note that this homework is due after the project proposal, so doing the homework early will help you with the project proposal.