March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference1 SENSOR NETWORKS & PRIVACY Pamela Samuelson, UC Berkeley, Securing Privacy Conference, March 13, 2004

Securing Privacy Conference2 SENSOR NETWORKS Considerable amount of R&D underway to develop tiny computers equipped with radio capabilities to sense physical phenomena and transmit data to processing points Wide array of application domains: smart buildings that can detect internal structural damage or adjust light & heat settings, measuring weather/water info on GG Bridge/redwood trees, monitoring activities of the elderly, sensing for bioterrorism weapons

March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference3 TECHNICAL CHALLENGES Making tiny processors capable of deployment in wide array of applications (buildings, forests, animals, whatever) Designing ways to generate and preserve power for sensors and transmitting data Transmission protocols, radio transmitters Tiny operating system programs, security Database designs for processing sensed data

March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference4 CITRIS Center for Information Technology Research in the Interests of Society at UC Berkeley Technologists designing sensor and sensor network technologies are aware that deployment of such technologies raise privacy and other policy concerns Deirdre Mulligan & I have begun work with EECS Professors David Culler, Joe Hellerstein, & David Wagner on privacy & sensor network issues

March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference5 COLLABORATION Technologists want quick and certain answers –Want to submit query about how law applies, have it processed, & get right answer as output –Have a sense that there may be a short window for developing right technology policy Lawyers have to educate technologists about different modality of law, and need to know fair amount about the technology & how it will be deployed before able to assess how law applies

March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference6 PRIVACY ISSUES Many applications for deploying sensor networks involve collecting personally identifiable information (PII) –Sensing persons in building as part of embedded sensors for disaster preparedness –Monitoring activities of the elderly so they can safely live at home –FastTRAK devices being read at more than toll booths No law as such on this new domain, but wouldn’t it be nice if fair information practices applied?

March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference7 FAIR INFO PRACTICES Limitations on collection of data (only what need); destroy data after need is fulfilled Right to collect data for specific purpose only; if want to reuse for other purpose, you have to get new permission Notice and consent Right of access to check data Obligations to keep data accurate, secure Accountability if screw up

March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference8 SENSOR NETS POOR FIT? Data collection is norm, may be always on Absence of cues indicating data is being collected Porous barriers between public and private spaces Everyone is a potential data collector New kinds of data being sensed, created, stored Increased ability to create patterns, knowledge out of seemingly unrevealing bits of data Once data has been collected, reuse may be easy to do, but difficult to detect and hence to regulate May not be feasible to enable access to PII to ensure integrity (lots of sensor network data will be lousy)

March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference9 ISSUES FROM CASELAW US v. Miller: persons have no protectable privacy interest in data about them held by third parties (e.g., bank records of individual accounts) Kyllo v. US: use of heat-sensing technology violated 4 th A because reasonable expectation of privacy in home, & such technology not in general public use

March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference10 WHAT TO DO? May be possible to design privacy-sensitive technology –Encrypt PII so can only be used for one purpose? –Use authentication/access control systems? –Store data only where security can be strong? –Aggregate data to anonymize? Hide mapping? –Don’t log or flush out data when no longer needed? –Give users ability to turn sensors off? detector devices? Adapt FIPs for sensor networks? New laws?

March 13, 2004Securing Privacy Conference11 CONCLUSION May be possible to build and deploy sensor networks in socially responsible way Worth thinking about whether possible to develop new FIPs for sensor networks, and what role for technology, what role for law? Law will certainly kick in when disputes arise or some flagrant, well-publicized abuse occurs Good idea to think about legal framework before problems start arising