LTU’s Cisler Lecture to cover privacy in an era when everything’s online

Privacy is dead!

Or is it?

In today’s social-media-driven society you can argue both sides of that question. And an expert in the field will tackle it March 22 in Lawrence Technological University’s annual Walker L. Cisler Lecture.

Florian Schaub, who holds dual appointments as an assistant professor in the University of Michigan’s School of Information and its Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, will present a lecture on the darker side of technology, including the privacy risks of smartphones, smart speakers, and social media.

Schaub will explore how these technologies track users’ behavior, and what these devices—and the corporations behind them—can learn about users.

Drawing on Schaub’s research on privacy, the talk will cover how and why privacy notices and controls are often misaligned with user needs, and how public policy aimed at protecting privacy often falls short. The talk will also present some hope—namely, how a “human-centric” approach to privacy design and engineering can yield usable and useful privacy protections that more effectively meet people’s needs and might also benefit tech companies.

Schaub’s research combines privacy, human-computer interaction, emerging technologies, and public policy. He studies people’s decision-making behavior, investigates tech-related privacy implications, and develops solutions that help people better manage their privacy.

Schaub earned a PhD in computer science from the University of Ulm, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. His research has been honored with the 2019 Caspar Bowden Award for Outstanding Research in Privacy Enhancing Technologies, and with “best paper” awards at the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI) Conference on Human Factors in Computing, the USENIX Security Symposium, and the Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security. His research has directly impacted public policy decisions, and he is a frequently quoted source on security and privacy in the media.

Schaub’s lecture is free of charge and open to the public. It begins at 7 p.m. in the Mary E. Marburger Science and Engineering Auditorium in the Science Building on the LTU campus (building 7 on www.ltu.edu/map). Free public parking is available in lots D and E.

LTU’s annual Walker L. Cisler Lecture is dedicated to the improvement of science education, and is generously supported by the Holley Foundation in Cisler’s memory.

Well known for his leadership of the Detroit Edison Co. from 1954 to 1971, Walker L. Cisler, 1897-1994, enjoyed a career that spanned a lifetime of personal, professional, civic, and business accomplishments. As an international ambassador for the American electric utility industry, he worked closely with heads of state both here and abroad. As a tireless, dedicated humanitarian, he strived to improve the quality of life for people everywhere. Included in his resume: the rebuilding of the electric grid across Europe after World War II.

Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, is a private university founded in 1932 that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, and Engineering. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 11 percent of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation’s top 10 percent. U.S. News and World Report lists it in the top tier of best in the Midwest. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.