This is a non-exhaustive list of current and ongoing projects in the laboratory.
Misinformation on End-to-End Encrypted Messaging Platforms. We are studying how users encounter and process misinformation on WhatsApp. Student Researchers: Archie Brohn, Jason Chee, Oishee Chakrabarti, Mirror Li, Brennan Schaffner, Kevin Song, Collaborators: Kevin Feng (Undergraduate Student at Princeton University)
Misinformation on Social Media Platforms. We are studying how users encounter and process misinformation on social media platforms such as Reddit. Student Researchers: Brennan Schaffner Collaborators: Nick Feamster (UChicago), Chenhao Tan (UChicago)
Dark Patterns. We have studied how users recognize and deal with disguised advertisements and built a Chrome and Firefox extension called AdIntuition to help users better recognize affiliate marketing on YouTube. We have also studied how shopping websites manipulate users with dark patterns. We are continuing to study how various online dark patterns affect users. Student Researchers: Neha Lingareddy, Brennan Schaffner
Privacy and Security For Elementary School Children (Connecting Contexts Project). We have been studying how to help children aged 5-11 learn about online privacy and security and developing educational resources to achieve this purpose. We have two partner schools, one in Illinois and one in Maryland that we are working with to achieve these goals. The broader impacts of this work are to impact cybersecurity training for elementary school children by facilitating their learning about basic Internet and technology concepts and developing those skills to help them make smarter and safer decisions online. We aim to impact our target schools via teacher professional development sessions, parent-focused seminars, and educational resources for elementary school aged children on online privacy and security. We also aim to make any resources from this project publicly accessible. Student Researchers: Solomon Dworkin, Lucy Li, Fiona O’Connell, Shai Slotky, Kelly Wagman; Collaborators: Tammy Clegg (University of Maryland), Priya Kumar (Ph.D. student at University of Maryland), Jessica Vitak (University of Maryland), Antoine Vignon. Funded by two Google Faculty Research Awards in the past and currently by a NSF SATC Edu grant. Project website: https://spe4k.umd.edu/
Privacy and Security Implications Of Educational Technologies. We are studying what the privacy and security implications of educational technologies are for K-12 school children. Student Researchers: Jake Chanenson, Amy Morill Collaborators: Danny Huang (New York University), Brandon Sloane (NYU). Project website: https://www.k12inspector.org/
Privacy and Security For Under-served and Marginalized Communities. We have studied the privacy and security needs of under-served and marginalized communities including low-income mobile users in South Africa funded by a Facebook Securing the Internet grant. Most recently, we are examining how activists manage online privacy and security concerns and in-person activism. Student Researchers: Maia Boyd, Jamar Sullivan, Lily Hackworth Collaborators: Blase Ur (UChicago)
Privacy Enhancing Tools. We are always interested in seeing how effective privacy enhancing tools are for end-users. We have studied Tor browser, Ad-Blockers, and most recently, Virtual Private Networks. Student Researchers: Agnieszka Dutkowska-Zuk (Lancaster University) Austin Hounsel (Princeton University), Amy, Morill, Andre Xiong (Formerly Princeton University) Collaborators: Nick Feamster (UChicago).
Privacy and Security and Smart Home Internet of Things (IoT). We have conducted user studies of smart home Internet of Things devices in the home and are continuing to examine this topic. Collaborators: Noah Apthorpe (Colgate University), Pardis Emami Naeini (University of Washington), Arunesh Mathur (Princeton University/Consumer Reports), Nick Feamster (UChicago)