Category: Policy Home

OECD cites multiple Frontier work in Dark Commercial Patterns report

The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) recently published a report on “Dark Commerical Patterns” in which multiple Frontier works were cited. We are happy to see the lasting impact that the dark patterns work lead by NEU graduate student Johanna Gunawan, with PIs David Choffnes (NEU) and Woodrow Hartzog (Boston), continues to make…Continue Reading OECD cites multiple Frontier work in Dark Commercial Patterns report

Discussing ad blocking and online privacy at AFDS 2023

At this year’s 5th Ad Filtering Dev Summit, several ProperData members presented the latest on ad filtering technologies and online privacy projects, both in person in Amsterdam and remotely. Graduate student Hieu Le (UC Irvine) presented his work on AutoFR, an automated filter rule generator using reinforcement learning for ad blocking. Graduate student Shaoor Munir…Continue Reading Discussing ad blocking and online privacy at AFDS 2023

Four papers invited to FTC’s PrivacyCon 2022

Congratulations to ProperData team members for receiving invitations to present their research at the FTC’s seventh annual PrivacyCon 2022. Johanna Gunawan, graduate student at Northeastern in PI Choffnes’ group, will be presenting , “A Comparative Study of Dark Patterns across Mobile and Web Modalities”. Additionally, Piotr Sapiezynski, research scientist in Co-PI Mislove’s group, will be…Continue Reading Four papers invited to FTC’s PrivacyCon 2022

Co-PI Shafiq shares research findings at FTC’s ANPR forum

Co-PI, Zubair Shafiq, presented research findings on the privacy threats of biometric data collection and sharing practices of voice assistants and smart speakers at the Federal Trade Commission’s ANPR forum on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security. See his comments starting at 04:26:00 in the recorded webcast here. For a transcript of PI Shafiq’s comments read below:…Continue Reading Co-PI Shafiq shares research findings at FTC’s ANPR forum

Hartzog on Data Loyalty

ProperData PI, Woodrow Hartzog, along with privacy law scholar Neil Richards, have advocated the concept of Data Loyalty over a series of editorials and essays for the Boston Globe, Scientific America and the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Much of their efforts are focused on “duties of loyalty” which would change a company’s business incentives away…Continue Reading Hartzog on Data Loyalty