Using Private Data for Public Purposes Securely

Greetings from the famous room N101 at Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, where Professor Bradley Malin of Vanderbilt University is speaking on "Towards Practical Private Data Integration and Analysis".  He is describing the problem of using medical records to detect public health problems. People's medical records need to be kept private, but access is needed to this information to detect an outbreak of disease or an adverse drug reaction. Researchers are investigating ways to protect privacy and also make use of the data, such as Homomorphic Encryption. The mathematics involved is complex, but some of the techniques are easy to understand. One is that fields which have only a few values, such as gender, need to be scrambled more than some which many values (such as address). He has implemented this in the Secure Open Enterprise Master Patient Index (SOEMPI) is software tool. Testing of the security of such techniques is traditionally carried out by trying match public information provided by government about individuals with that which is private. The most common example of public records in the USA is voter registration. However, individuals now provide much more information themselves via the Internet. Does this additional information make such attacks easier?

One of his papers is "A Practical Approach to Achieve Private Medical RecordLinkage in the Face of Public Resources".

Towards Practical Private Data Integration and Analysis

Assoc Prof Bradley Malin (Vanderbilt University, Nashville)

CECS SEMINAR SERIES

DATE: 2013-08-26
TIME: 16:00:00 - 17:00:00
LOCATION: CSIT Seminar Room, N101
CONTACT: peter.christen@anu.edu.au

ABSTRACT:
Over the past decade, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that data devoid of explicit identifiers can be linked back to the identities of the individuals from which it was derived. This has made organizations increasingly apprehensive about sharing person-specific information. Yet, with the dawn of the big data age upon us, it is imperative that data sharing proliferate to ensure that researchers can validate published research findings, combine datasets to discover novel associations, and comply with open data initiatives. In this talk, I will review recent research on privacy preserving data integration strategies that are efficient, effective, and obscure personal identities in the process. This talk will further illustrate how such integration can enable biomedical association studies while obfuscating the identities of the corresponding participants.
BIO:
Bradley Malin, Ph.D., is the Vice Chair for Research and an Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics in the School of Medicine at Vanderbilt University. He is also an Associate Professor of Computer Science in the School of Engineering and is Affiliated Faculty in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society. He is the founder and current director of the Health Information Privacy Laboratory (HIPLab), conducts technologies that enable privacy in the context of real world organizational, political, and health information architectures. Dr. Malin's research has been cited by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and featured in popular media outlets, including Nature News, Scientific American, and Wired magazine. He has received several awards of distinction from the American and International Medical Informatics Associations and, in 2009, he was honored as a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. Dr. Malin completed his education at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, where he received a bachelor's in biological sciences, a master's in data mining and knowledge discovery, a master's in public policy and management, and a doctorate in computer science.

ANU Research Shows Strong Emotions Against PM

Greetings from ANU University House at the Australian National University, where journalists Steve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann are in conversation with Andrew Hughes, ANU political marketing researcher. Steve and Chris are discussing how much of their political satire The Marmalade Files is real.

One of the people present mentioned that negotiations were almost complete to produce a TV series based on the Marmalade Files, set in Canberra.

Also it was mentioned that research at ANU has just conducted, involved attaching electrodes to voters to measure their emotional response to political advertising. The research is yet to be published, but preliminary results indicate that Bob Katter rated well, whereas Julia Gillard rated negatively, even on what was intended as a positive advertisement.

Authors of The Marmalade Files Speak in Canberra

Steve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann, authors of The Marmalade Files will speak at the Australian National University, 6pm 21 June 2013:

Separating fact from fiction in an election year

Featuring Steve Lewis, News Limited, Chris Uhlmann, ABC, Andrew Hughes, ANU

Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. Join us for a politics-in-the-pub style debate at University House, separating fact from fiction in the lead up to the 2013 Federal Election. Featuring the authors of the The Marmalade Files and Press Gallery stalwarts Steve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann, and ANU political marketing expert Andrew Hughes.

Steve Lewis is the national political correspondent for News Limited, a position he has held since 2007. Lewis arrived in Canberra in 1992 as a reporter with The Australian Financial Review.

Chris Uhlmann is co-anchor and political editor for 7.30. He previously co-hosted 666 ABC Canberra’s top rating breakfast program, and worked as the chief political correspondent for ABC radio current affairs.

Andrew Hughes is a lecturer in the ANU College of Business and Economics, specialising in political marketing. ...

ANU Microsoft Tech Lounge

Greetings from the Microsoft Tech Lounge at the Australian National University in Canberra. The lounge looks a lot less crowded that the publicity picture and has the atmosphere of a library. This appears to be a temporary "pop up" facility. Some rugs have been put down and and a trestle bench, plus wallpaper on existing walls. But there does not appear to have been any new walls built.  The "Lounge" sits in the foyer of an existing commerce building.

There is a eclectic mix of lounge chairs and tables which look like packing cases (much like a student share house). A closer examination shows some clever design features. What appears to be simply a throw rug actually disguises a raised floor which allows all the cables to be hidden underneath.

There are large screen Dell desktop computers, as well as Dell laptops. The laptops are attached to security cables, power and wired Ethernet, with cables long enough to use comfortably from a lounge chair. There are two Xbox games built into one wall. Curiously I could see only two Microsoft "surface" tablet computers, which no one was using (whereas the Dell devices were being used).. The lounge appears to be a success, and I was relieved to see there was not too much marketing of Microsoft products (just one LCD wall panel marketing Windows 8).

eLearning at Barcamp Canberra 2012

Greetings from Barcamp Canberra 2012 "un-conference"at the ANU in Canberra. I gave a talk on eLearning, which worked okay.

We have enough computers and telecommunications for a digital education revolution, but it is not just about connecting schools to the Internet and buying tablet computers for students. Teachers need to learn a new (or old) way to teach and students need to take responsibility for their , own learning. As a society we need t invest in the skills and systems to do this. ...

Gamification of open source software development

Greetings from Barcamp Canberra 2012 "un-conference"at the ANU in Canberra. Where Melanie Rooney from open source software company Suqiz is talking on their internal "roadmap" product. Tis is an internal online service which the management use to get the views of staff and clients on what the company should work on. This has elements of Gamification: using features of a game in non-game software. But what I found more interesting was that there are also aspects of e-democracy, with staff and clients debating the value of various options for new products. This could be useful for government.

Barcamp Canberra 2012

Barcamp Canberra 2012 is on Saturday 17th March 2012. This is a very well organized "un-conference", if that is not a contradiction in terms. It is free and is better than many of the paid conferences I attend. The theme is usually around government and Internet technology, but strays into other areas. No doubt there will be people talking about 3D printing, as that is trendy. At BCC2011 I talked about "Designing for Dialogue" (there was also a wired sign on the door saying "Please help keep this building a Comic Sans free zone"). At BCC2010 I talked on "Making e-Books for e-Learning on i-Pads" and at BCC2009, it was "National Bushfire Warning System". I don't know what I might talk about this year, but it may be to do with the e-learning revolution in higher education. One of the pleasures of the event is that you are under no compulsion to speak, or not. I decide what to talk about on the day.

Knowing When You are doing Innovative Education

Dr Stephen Dann from the ANU College of Business and Economics at ANU Australian National University is speaking at the ANU Educational Research Conference on how to innovate productively in education. He suggested that just trying things was not innovation, as you need to check who might have done it before so you can learn from their experience and document what it is you are doing so others can learn from that. He also pointed out how techniques from the teachers discipline can be sued in teaching (in his case marketing).

Cybersecurity and the law

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra,

Professor Scott Shackelford, from Indiana University, is speaking on "Tweet softly, but carry a big stick: defining state responsibility for cyber attacks". There is a video of a previous presentation also available. Scott is preparing a book on this topic for release later in the year.

Scott started by talking about why cyber-attacks matter. He used the example of the Stuxnet attack, which damaged Iran's nuclear plant. However, he argued that so far we have not seen a "CyberWar", however I would argue that it may not be possible to say when such a war was happening, as this would be more of a covert "cold" war. There is no clear distinction between large scale criminal activities, terrorism and warfare on-line.

Scott pointed out there had not been much cyber-terrorism so far, with terrorists using the Internet for coordination and PR, not direct attacks. He speculated this was because terrorists do not have the technical skills needed. This seemed unlikely to me as terrorist groups were shown to be able to recruit engineers, so it seems likely they could recruit software engineers. It is more likely that they find it difficult to conceive an attack which would have the news value of a physical attack.

Scott mentioned that the International Court of Justice for Bozina adopted the more rigid "Effective Control Standard" "rather then the "Overall Control Standard". This requires a higher burden of proof to say that the state is responsible for the actions of individuals. This is a major issue as it will be difficult to say who is doing the attacking and why. However, it seems to me that it will be politics, not the law, which determines the actions of nations in this area.

Scott pointed out that ICANN had done well resolving domain name squatting disputes. But this seems a long way from resolving international cyber-war disputes. Perhaps we need an international criminal cyber-court. ;-)

Scott was critical of the concept of "cyber-peace" from IUT. See: "The Quest for Cyber Peace", ITU, 2011.

The RAND think tank advised the US military that it was not feasible to respond in kind to a cyber-attack. The US Government recently warned that a cyber-attack on the USA may result in a conventional military response.

Scott discussed the different views in academia over the relivance of international law to cyber-war. His own view is that it has some relevance. It seems to me this is the same issue as with laws applying to the Internet in general. Laws apply, but not very well. Some new customs grow up quickly around the Internet.

Professor Scott Shackelford Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Kelley School of Business,
Indiana University

The ANU College of Business and Economics is pleased to present a free public seminar on cyber security and privacy by visiting Professor Scott Shackelford.

The seminar is based on research from a paper being published by the Georgetown Journal of International Law entitled “Defining State Responsibility for Cyber Attacks: Competing Standards for a Growing Problem”, and Professor Shackelford’s forthcoming book “Cyber Peace: Managing Cyber Attacks in International Law, Business, and Relations” (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Professor Scott Shackelford earned his Bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude with honors in Economics and Political Science, from Indiana University along with the Elvis J. Stahr Distinguished Senior Award, his Masters of Philosophy in International Relations, with highest distinction, from the University of Cambridge as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, and his J.D., with academic and pro bono distinction, from Stanford
Law School where he was co-Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Journal of International Law.

A frequent speaker to a variety of local, national, and global audiences, Professor Shackelford’s current research grows from his doctoral dissertation on the governance of global common pool resources and
focuses on cyber security and privacy.

Presented by Registration required ANU College of E: hayley.mcneel(a)anu.edu.au Business and Economics

This seminar is free and open to the cyber-security community of interest.

Defining state responsibility for cyber attacks

Professor Scott Shackelford, from Indiana University, will speak on "Tweet softly, but carry a big stick: defining state responsibility for cyber attacks" at the Australian National University in Canberra, 10:30am, 23 August 2011. There is a video of a previous presentation also available.

Professor Scott Shackelford Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Kelley School of Business,
Indiana University

The ANU College of Business and Economics is pleased to present a free public seminar on cyber security and privacy by visiting Professor Scott Shackelford.

The seminar is based on research from a paper being published by the Georgetown Journal of International Law entitled “Defining State Responsibility for Cyber Attacks: Competing Standards for a Growing Problem”, and Professor Shackelford’s forthcoming book “Cyber Peace: Managing Cyber Attacks in International Law, Business, and Relations” (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Professor Scott Shackelford earned his Bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude with honors in Economics and Political Science, from Indiana University along with the Elvis J. Stahr Distinguished Senior Award, his Masters of Philosophy in International Relations, with highest distinction, from the University of Cambridge as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, and his J.D., with academic and pro bono distinction, from Stanford
Law School where he was co-Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Journal of International Law.

A frequent speaker to a variety of local, national, and global audiences, Professor Shackelford’s current research grows from his doctoral dissertation on the governance of global common pool resources and
focuses on cyber security and privacy.

Presented by Registration required ANU College of E: hayley.mcneel(a)anu.edu.au Business and Economics

This seminar is free and open to the cyber-security community of interest.

Please help keep this building a Comic Sans free zone

Greetings from BarCamp Canberra 2011 in the new Commerce building at the Australian National University in Canberra. There are about two hundred delegates for the free event, but there is room for a few more, so come along.

The first session for the day is about how to give a presentation by Donna Spencer (@maadonna) . Her one rule is to talk about something you know and care about. This was a good lesson to start the day.

There is a buzz in the building. As well as BarCamp, ANU is hosting an UN Association meeting for young people.

While in the queue for a free coffee I noticed an official looking ANU sign on the building, which said: "Please help keep this building a Comic Sans free zone". It took me a few minutes to work out this was a joke.

You can follow on Twitter at #bcc2011 and blogs for "BarCamp Canberra 2011".

Reimagining education and government at BarCamp Canberra 2011 this Saturday

BarCamp Canberra 2011 is a free "un-conference" this Saturday at the Australian National University in Canberra. There are 158 people registered, with 41 free tickets remaining.

Proposed topics include:

• Designing for cognitive disabilities
• Graffiti: art or vandalism?
• Open Public Transit Data in the ACT
• Enabling Digital Society: The Government's Part
• Minecraft - using games as building and creativity tools
• What's Australia's Open Government Future?
• Information Philanthropy in Australia
• Online collaboration across public sector organisations - lessons learned/gained
• Web Apps to Enable Social Inclusion
• Gaming, transmedia, convergence and the whole, messy shebang
• Demos from the Make Hack Void members
• Communicating science and skepticism
• How to run a neighbourhood or a nation online: Can we use the same online systems to run a communal block of flats or a country?
• Designing for Dialogue: How do we design buildings and online systems in a for people to talk, learn and make decisions together?
• WiFi Access Liability: Legal risks when providing and using open wireless access points
• Materials Handling and Logistics using contemporary robots, automated guided vehicles and production control systems.
• Running an Agile Business: Taking common agile methodologies and how to apply them to business management OR
• Agile methods within Government: Iterative and customer focused development and how it can work within Government
• Tweeting for your Country - what it takes to get social networking going in government
• More than document formats - advantages of a common operating environment policy for government
• How to deliver a kick-ass presentation

You can offer your own topic.

ps: The topic "How to run a neighbourhood or a nation online: Can we use the same online systems to run a communal block of flats or a country?" is from Pia Waugh and myself. But I am not sure I have told Pia about it yet. ;-)

pps: The topic "Designing for Dialogue: How do we design buildings and online systems in a for people to talk, learn and make decisions together?" is a preview of my presentation for the 2nd Annual Learning Commons Development and Design Forum in Brisbane, 20 March 2011.

Bar Camp Canberra 2011

Bar Camp Canberra 2011 will be held at ANU College of Business and Economics in Canberra on 19 March 2011. This is free and there is room for 150 people. You can register online.

These events are a little geeky, with participants referring to each other by their Twitter "handle" and almost everyone having a wireless handheld device switched on all the time. But they do show how the blend of computer technology and old fashioned meeting procedure can work.