Seminar: Should we have PETs in “smart” homes? Tomasz Kosinski, Chalmers University of Technology

Online

ABSTRACT: This talk is not a lecture. The goal is to use plain English. Why? To simply convey some practical information and insights. About what? On Privacy Enhancing Technologies; PETs for short. What for? So that you can answer the question in the title for yourself. (Correct, I won't do this one for you.) Why should you care to listen? Will it matter if you don't? To whom? And what to use PETs for? Can it be applied to an Amazon Echo or Google Home? A "smart" lightbulb or your "smart" TV? All of them? These questions I'll strive to answer. And I hope you will have more. Especially that in this popular science format, I will touch upon topics that should resonate with each of you and that are not limited to dark, dusty and narrow university corridors or Ivory towers. Tangible examples of this include reports of The Norwegian Consumer Council, Forbrukerrådet, regarding consumer-unfriendly practices. Similarly, recent NRK reports on location tracking through smartphone apps illustrate some issues that will be brought up in the talk.