CS 15 Privacy and Trust in Cyberspace

Syllabus

The schedule below is very approximate. Social aspects will be treated as the semester progresses even though they are not usually listed explicitly in the syllabus.

Week Topics Readings
1
3 Sept 		Introductions
Privacy
Alan Turing 		P&P ch. 1
S pp. 1-59
some news articles
2
10 Sept 		What is computable? A universal machine,
intro to the von Neumann model;
logic gates and an introduction to computing components
 P&P ch. 2, 3
S pp. 60-154
some news articles
3
17 Sept 		Secret key cryptography--the Enigma machine
Importance of secret communication in war and peace
building components of a computer from gates 		P&P ch. 3,4
S pp. 154-237
some news articles
4
24 Sept 		game theory and mechanical thinking
machine language programming
P&P ch. 4-6
S pp. 237-324
some news articles
5
1 Oct 		Turing's ideas about intelligent machines
more machine language programming, Artificial Intelligence (AI) 		P&P ch. 5,6
S pp. 324-412
some news articles
6
8 Oct 		universal machine and undecidability
assembly language programming
traps and the stack, more AI
P&P ch. 7,8
S pp. 412-502
some news articles
7
22 Oct 		more assembly language programming, input/output
merits and trade-offs of computer design choices
considered in 1940's
traps and the stack
P&P ch. 9,10
S pp. 502-588
some news articles
8
29 Oct 		operating systems (OS), need for administrative
(=root=superuser) privileges and risks of this level of access;
Elections, evoting, privacy and trust
 reading on OS, need for superusers
S pp. 588-671
some news articles
9
5 Nov 		high-level languages, compilers
the programming language C
Individuals or Companies: who should be responsible for security and privacy?
P&P ch. 11-13
S pp. 671-758
some news articles
10
12 Nov 		more programming--functions and parameters
more on privacy issues. 		P&P ch. 13,14
S pp. 758-839
some news articles
11
19 Nov
Computer Networks
WEB requests, chat messages, cookies. Sniffers 		Networks
S pp. 839-936
some news articles
12
23 Nov (note special day) 		compilers, stack frames, return from subprogram, buffer
overflows, trojan horses, worms, and viruses
Thompson's lecture "Trusting Trust", back doors
How do hackers do it? 		Thompson's Turing lecture
S pp. 936-1028
some news articles
13
3 Dec 		trap-door functions, public-key cryptography
and the government's reception
information privacy. When is privacy good? bad?
cell phones, wireless networks, camera surveilance
improving your own information privacy, caveats 		Research
S pp. 1028-1130
some news articles