Privacy and Trust for Mobile Users

Max MuelhaeuserMax Mühlhäuser

Telecooperation Lab, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany

Thursday, October 1, 2015
4:00 p.m., ICSI Lecture Hall

Mobile Internet access is cherished by Mongolian and Tanzanian citizens alike – the world’s population is (soon entirely) online. Their data is considered “the new oil,” and “oil explorers” of quite varying trustworthiness bustle about in the net. Will (and should) the users, i.e. most of the world’s population, be ever more transparent to the net and the net be ever more untransparent to the users? If not, what can be done about that? This question is the point of departure for a new doctoral school starting at Technische Universität Darmstadt on October 1. It was selected for national funding in a highly competitive process in consideration of: past and planned research; the international standing of Darmstadt’s IT security research alliance; and innovative PhD qualification concepts proposed.

In his talk, Max will emphasize the interdisciplinary and integrated research agenda put forward for the 25+ PhD and postdoc researchers to be united in the new doctoral school, led by 11 PIs. This research agenda unites computer scientists with researchers from economics, rights, sociology, and usability. It is structured into four major divisions that investigate the Internet-of-Services, social media, sensor environments, and – as an integral theme – novel approaches to privacy and trust via mobile devices. The latter targets drafts of next generation personal digital companions, called Alter-Ego, supposed to represent the user’s interests and concerns in the digital world. In the talk, the debatable AlterEgo concepts are expected to spark lively discussions.

Apart from laying out future research plans, the talk will also relate to one or the other related work and to some past achievements of the researchers in Darmstadt. In the beginning, the stage will be set by a brief introduction to the Telecooperation Lab and the IT security research alliance in Darmstadt. Some of the novel concepts for PhD qualification at the doctoral school will be described in passing.

Bio:

Max Mühlhäuser is a full professor of computer science at Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany, and head of the Telecooperation Lab. He received his doctorate from the University of Karlsruhe and founded a research center for Digital Equipment (DEC). Since 1989, he has worked as either professor or visiting professor at universities in Germany, Austria, France, Canada, and the U.S. Max has published more than 450 articles and co-authored and edited books about UbiComp, E-learning, and distributed & multimedia software engineering. Max’s current roles include Vice Dean of CS, speaker of the nationally funded doctoral school on privacy and trust for mobile users, deputy speaker of the nationally funded cooperative research center on the Future Internet, and directorate member of the nationally and state funded Center for Advanced SEcurity research Darmstadt (CASED).