How often are we locked out of devices or accounts by the security meant to protect us? What other technologies cause unintended harm when we expect them to help?

Our team at Harvard and Berkeley is investigating.

We have run pilot surveys, shared our methodology and preliminary results, and now we want YOUR suggestions before we run our full study. Please help us as we promote a more open approach to science.

https://uharm.org/

In a CACM op-ed, @vardi points out the obvious: U.S. computer science PhD students come here substantially from China. Where are the domestic students? Getting paid outrageous industrial salaries. It's financially irrational for them to pursue a PhD.

And these international students, coming to the U.S., often decide to stay, joining our companies, starting new ones, or becoming American professors themselves. They're keeping the dream alive. They're a huge win for our country!

U.S. policy towards China has changed in ways that may have benefits for U.S. tech companies, at the cost of the pipeline of Chinese students, which will have long term ramifications. Meanwhile, China is taking their own steps to try to keep their students at home, so maybe we've got less to lose here than it seems.

I'm wildly unclear if there's something magical we can do to make more domestic students want to pursue a PhD. I kinda did it on a whim ("seems fun, and I can always go back to California and get a nice job"), but I had the luxury of zero student debt, plus those tasty summer internships, throughout grad school, probably doubled my annual take-home. That doesn't hold true for many other prospective PhD students.

I often hear students say that they'll "go back to grad school after a few years" but few actually do. Maybe there's something there worth exploring further. Or, maybe there's something broader to say about the seemingly brutal "publish or perish" world of academia. It's fun if you're winning. It's really not fun at all if you're getting scooped.

https://m-cacm.acm.org/magazines/2023/1/267968-how-not-to-win-a-tech-war/fulltext

PARENT: "Have you finished writing your letter to Santa?"

CHILD: "I don't believe in Santa anymore. Now I believe in a decentralized network of independently operating elves who federate using an open protocol called ActivityPub to share information about children's Christmas wishes and source gifts to fulfill them"

I think it’s important to repeat: you don't "have something to hide" when you put blinds on your windows or close the door when you're on the can or wear clothes.

Privacy isn't about having something to hide. It's not about keeping secrets. It's about you being the person who chooses what you reveal about yourself, and when, and to who, and the other word we have for that is "dignity". Your inherent dignity, as a human being.

Your privacy is the agency you have over your dignity.