Profile picture
Arvind Narayanan @random_walker
, 7 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
I admire the cryptographers who had the patience and courage to work on Privacy Enhancing Technologies for decades before the Snowden leaks, even though the world wasn't ready for them. This quote explains it perfectly. #RealWorldCrypto “Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.” ― Milton Friedman
For many years, just about the only example of using fancy crypto (i.e., secure multiparty computation, zero-knowledge proofs, etc.) to protect privacy was the Danish sugar beet auction, which was frankly a bit silly. eprint.iacr.org/2008/068.pdf
Today, in addition to the obvious (cryptocurrencies), there are a growing number of examples of complex crypto protocols for privacy. After Snowden, tech companies have been far more willing to do the engineering. For example, this blog post by Cloudflare: blog.cloudflare.com/privacy-pass-t…
A recent Senate Bill asks the Department of Education to adopt Secure Multiparty Computation. It's just a bill, but it's still a historic moment for cryptography and privacy enhancing technologies! congress.gov/bill/115th-con…
Let's not forget how utterly bizarre non-cryptographers find the idea that you can perform computations on a dataset without having access to it. Getting people to appreciate the possibility that technology can achieve these seemingly impossible trade-offs is half the battle.
What do Apple and the US Census Bureau have in common? They both use differential privacy to protect sensitive data.
images.apple.com/privacy/docs/D…
privacytools.seas.harvard.edu/why-census-bur…
www2.census.gov/cac/sac/meetin…
A long time ago I worked on cryptographic PETs, then became disillusioned and tried to argue that they'll never be adopted. The late, wise Caspar Bowden gently explained to me that what's seemingly inevitable or impossible is really contingent on cultural and political winds. 🙏
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Arvind Narayanan
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Related hashtags

#RealWorldCrypto

More from @random_walker see all

Profile picture
In 2018 the blockchain/decentralization story fell apart. For example, a study of 43 use cases found a 0% success rate. theregister.co.uk/2018/11/30/blo…
Let's talk about some mistaken assumptions about decentralization that led to the blockchain hype, and what we can learn from them.
(For context, I think the technology is sound, interesting and important from a CS perspective. That’s why I’ve been researching and teaching it since 2013. bitcoinbook.cs.princeton.edu But I’ve also been speaking/writing about the pitfalls of decentralization for ~10 years.)
Blockchain proponents have a vision of _society_ in which centralized entities are weakened/eliminated. But blockchain tech is a way to build _software_ without centralized servers. Why would the latter enable the former? It’s a leap of logic that’s left unexplained.
Read 14 tweets
Profile picture
Less than 5% of cryptographers work on creating/breaking encryption algorithms. Encryption isn't the most important or most fundamental cryptographic construction. It's also mostly a solved problem. Attackers rarely even try to break encryption; they just exploit software bugs.
Here are a few of the cool things that modern cryptographers work on.
1. Secure Multiparty Computation: a powerful & broad set of techniques that enables (e.g.) 2 hospitals to do a genetic study on their combined patient records—without either sending its records to the other.
2. Theory of cryptography: how do questions about computational complexity (such as P vs NP) relate to which cryptographic algorithms are or aren’t secure? This is best understood as a quest to reveal the computational laws of nature and isn't directly motivated by applications.
Read 6 tweets
Profile picture
The online ad tech industry has created an extraordinarily invasive surveillance infrastructure that threatens our democracy. But the most tragic thing is how little has been gained—how poorly ad tech works despite all the data.
Even if rampant ad fraud is curbed, there's a deeper reason why ad tech doesn't work: measuring the returns to advertising is a statistical problem that's near impossible even with perfect tracking. This neat paper shows why and deserves to be better known justinmrao.com/lewis_rao_near…
One reason why print/TV ads work—by conspicuously spending money, the firm signals to consumers that it is big & will stick around, is invested in its reputation, and has products worth advertising. Online ads don't achieve this. The more targeted the ad, the *weaker* the signal.
Read 3 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
IT BEGAN NOT by tapping enemy insurgents’ phones or capturing their emails, but by #FollowingTheMoney

Cache of 328 NS theintercept.com/2018/08/15/nsa…

#Snowden
Aug. 15 2018, 13:00 p.m.

The Intercept's largest-ever SIDtoday release, with 328 documents

#Qanon
#FlashbackFriday
#WWG1WGA
When the #NSA discovered that #Iran may have been buying computer chips from the #UnitedStates routing them through a U.S. ally
&
Potentially supplying them to detonate #bombs against U.S. forces in Iraq & #Afghanistan
It credited so-called economic intelligence with the find.
The solution wasn't a death blow delivered by the #military but rather a new regulation on the export of certain #technologies via the #CommerceDepartment which the #NSA said would end up “saving #American & coalition lives.”

#Qanon
#DARKtoLIGHT
#WWG1WGA
#FridayThoughts
Read 136 tweets
Profile picture
001/ [article content in this tweet series 001-180 reproduced with permission from Martin Howe QC of Lawyers for Britain @lawyers4britain]
#quote "Leaving the EU on WTO terms: pulling down the barriers to world trade
Introduction: why prices will FALL after Brexit, not rise" /002
002/ #quote "Over the past couple of weeks, the media have been full of lurid scare stories about what will happen if the UK leaves the EU on WTO terms, because negotiations with the EU do not result in a withdrawal agreement." /003
#tariffs #NoDeal #Brexit #WTO #ProjectFear #shortages #food #medicines
003/ #quote "One of the most ridiculous and UNJUSTIFIED of these absurd scare stories is that it will lead to higher prices, and even shortages, of foods and medicines." /004
Read 180 tweets
Profile picture
Today, @NITIAayog released a Discussion Paper titled ‘National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence”. #AIforAll
niti.gov.in/writereaddata/…
We provide our initial thoughts on the paper here. 1/n
We welcome this initiative by @NITIAayog, but a call for comments would have been a welcome addition. The paper takes important steps forward from the #AI Task Force report released earlier this year by the DIPP, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (dipp.nic.in/sites/default/…). 2/n
This paper attempts a more holistic look at a broader range of issues concerning AI including #regulation, #ethics, #fairness, #transparency and #accountability. However, a number of issues still remain with this paper. 3/n
Read 41 tweets
Profile picture
(THREAD) BREAKING: Over DOJ and FBI objection, the Nunes Memo—compiled by GOP staffers of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence—has been released by Trump and Nunes. Here's my analysis of it—as an attorney and someone who's researched the Steele Dossier for a year.
1/ First, here's a link to the controversial document—a document whose release required Nunes to invoke a HPSCI rule never used in *40 years*, and required a sitting president to go to war against his FBI for the first time since the FBI was led by Hoover. docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG…
2/ Second, understand that it's common practice in the justice system for law enforcement to use informants who have conflicts of interest to secure a warrant. Here, the informant, former MI6 Russia desk chief Chris Steele, didn't know who his client was and had no such conflict.
Read 74 tweets
Profile picture
1) Today's story is called The Brink.

They never thought she'd lose, now we understand the #NWO plan to destroy America, see 1991 Bush I vid. Obama took over the process from Bush II and embarked on an 8 year wrecking ball. #QAnon #GreatAwakening @POTUS
2) For years rogue operatives have been getting installed. Shadow government/#DeepState. All centers of #Government. Controlled by the wealthiest on the planet, most rogue was the CIA. Goal was complete control to dismantle. Check Out Barry's Book: Post American World #QAnon
3) The systematic leaking of classified intel was everywhere, so was exposure of #military assets. Instead if de-funding military (bad optics), you starve thru corruption. Notice #Mattis has a massive audit of DOD? Think why.

defenseone.com/politics/2017/…

popularmechanics.com/military/a746/…
Read 17 tweets
Profile picture
Oh the geezers are hard at it grafting media, it's always great to have easy scapegoats "North Korean cyber gangs.." a.msn.com/01/en-ie/AAt9g…
2/"Mr Murphy’s firm was the first in the world to liaise with computer giant IBM over the use of the super-computer ‘Watson’ for real-time--
3/artificial intelligence-based defence against cyber criminals." Bear with me, I'm about to post a few more links in #THREAD #CyberSecurity
Read 71 tweets

Trending hashtags

#CronyCapitalists #exhausted #Continental #worth #Iran #ESR #Brussels #transcend #DataBreach #Swiss #slaughter #Winning #manufacturers #delusion #Transparency #free #platforms #England #Mattis #death #EC #NationalSocialist #food #SelectCommittee #BLM

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member and get exclusive features!

Premium member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year)

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!