A team comprised of three faculty from the University of Florida (UF), two, from the University of Washington (UW), two from Indiana University Bloomington (IU), and one from the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, were awarded a $7.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a center and lead a study in the effort to understand how certain groups like the poor, children and the elderly, and the disabled are marginalized by current technologies like smartphones and video conferencing and how to design more inclusive technologies going forward.
Entitled PRISM, for The Center for Privacy and Security for Marginalized Populations, the goal of the effort is to change the fundamental approach to both privacy and security in computing so these communities are considered the norm rather than the exception, or even an afterthought. – Dr. Butler
As explained by PRISM Director and Lead Investigator, Dr. Kevin Butler of UF’s Computer & Information Science & Engineering Department (CISE) , “Computing systems and services have become ubiquitous in modern society and are deeply embedded in people’s daily lives. As practices and technologies for ensuring security and privacy of computing systems emerge in this rapidly changing technological landscape, the needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations have been largely unaddressed, as have the consequences of their exclusion.”.
The researchers will draw upon the resources of the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity (FICS) Research in UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, of which Butler is associate director. Other UF participants include CISE Professor Patrick Traynor, who has expertise in cellular and voice-based systems and payment systems, and whose own work involves improving life outcomes of economically marginalized and visually impaired populations; and Eakta Jain, a CISE associate professor, whose research involves human-computer interaction and virtual reality.
Other team members include Tadayoshi Kohno and Franziska Roesner at the University of Washington, Apu Kapadia at Indiana University and Elissa Redmiles, CEO and Principal Researcher at Human Computing Associates.
Excerpts from original story published by C.J. Gish of Main Street News, Gainesville, FL on Aug. 1st, 2022