Politics of Personal Data, Course Schedule

Harvard University

The Politics of Personal Data

Gov 1430

Professor: Latanya Sweeney, Ph.D. (email)

Lectures, Labs: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30-1:00pm, CGIS K050

Office Hours: 2-4pm on Tuesdays, CGIS Knafel 310

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Course Schedule

The following schedule and descriptions are tentative and therefore subject to change based on progress. Throughout the semester, the information will be updated to include links to lab assignments and handouts.

News | Leader Board

Engineering the Digital Society

1/29 Shopping lecture: Uniqueness of Demographics, Uniqueness at Harvard

1. Perfect Knowledge

2/3 Intro: Privacy-preserving Surveillance

2/5 Lab: Detecting Unusual Crowd Behaviors: Lab

2/10 School closed due to snow

2/12 Lab Reports and Discussion. No Lab follow-up (originally scheduled, but now cancelled due to snow emergencies)

2. Identity and Autonomy

2/17 Intro: Social Security numbers

2/19 Lab: Harvesting SSNs Online: Lab

2/24 Lab reports

2/26 Broader implications

3. Transparency and Harms

3/3 Intro: Data Sharing Risks

3/5 Lab: Learning sensitive information from publicly available data: Lab

3/10 Lab reports

3/12 Broader implications: Guest panel. Lab Follow-up

4. The Deciders

3/24 Intro: Rule-making in our digital society

3/26 Lab: Making decisions about self-driving cars: Lab

3/31 Senate hearings

4/2 Broader implications: Guest panel. Lab Follow-up

5. Democracy vs Technocracy

4/7 Intro: Towards Technocracy 2.0

4/9 Lab: Tracking Mobile Phones: Lab

4/14 Debates: Voting

4/16 Broader Implications: Lab Follow-up

6. You Take Control

4/21 Project brainstorming

4/23 Project discussions

4/28 Project discussions

5/6 Poster Session New date!!

date Final Project Reports

Professor:	Latanya Sweeney, Ph.D. (email)
Lectures, Labs:	Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30-1:00pm, CGIS K050
Office Hours:	2-4pm on Tuesdays, CGIS Knafel 310

		Engineering the Digital Society
	1/29	Shopping lecture: Uniqueness of Demographics, Uniqueness at Harvard

		1. Perfect Knowledge
	2/3	Intro: Privacy-preserving Surveillance
	2/5	Lab: Detecting Unusual Crowd Behaviors: Lab
	2/10	School closed due to snow
	2/12	Lab Reports and Discussion. No Lab follow-up (originally scheduled, but now cancelled due to snow emergencies)

		2. Identity and Autonomy
	2/17	Intro: Social Security numbers
	2/19	Lab: Harvesting SSNs Online: Lab
	2/24	Lab reports
	2/26	Broader implications

		3. Transparency and Harms
	3/3	Intro: Data Sharing Risks
	3/5	Lab: Learning sensitive information from publicly available data: Lab
	3/10	Lab reports
	3/12	Broader implications: Guest panel. Lab Follow-up

		4. The Deciders
	3/24	Intro: Rule-making in our digital society
	3/26	Lab: Making decisions about self-driving cars: Lab
	3/31	Senate hearings
	4/2	Broader implications: Guest panel. Lab Follow-up

		5. Democracy vs Technocracy
	4/7	Intro: Towards Technocracy 2.0
	4/9	Lab: Tracking Mobile Phones: Lab
	4/14	Debates: Voting
	4/16	Broader Implications: Lab Follow-up

		6. You Take Control
	4/21	Project brainstorming
	4/23	Project discussions
	4/28	Project discussions
	5/6	Poster Session New date!!
	date	Final Project Reports