In the context of the rapid expansion of web-integrated technologies, there exists a need for a thorough comprehension of data privacy, emphasizing risk mitigation and the nuanced governance of private data within organizational and regulatory frameworks. Given the rise of privacy regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA, it has become important for…

With the increasing data security awareness of mobile crowdsensing (MCS) participants, smartphone app developers are continually developing technical security protections, but with little consideration on human behaviors. Information technology (IT) advancements seen in the introduction of homomorphic encryption and privacy preserving…

Although the body of research about LGBTQ+ students in higher education is growing, little is known about the experiences, success rates, persistence, and graduation rates of sexual minority community college students. Researchers studying this population frequently cite a lack of available data that would assist in exploring the experiences of…

Advances in educational technology have led to unprecedented accumulation of student information, but there is limited research to inform school practices in protecting student data. At a minimum, school districts must remain in compliance with increasingly complex state and federal laws on student privacy. Moreover, increased cyberattacks on K-12…

Privacy and surveillance are pervasive words not only in higher education but also in many areas in our life. We use and hear them often while shopping online, reading the news, or checking the policies and terms of websites. In this study, I highlight the challenges of data collection and surveillance in education, specifically, in online…

In the current digital world, data is becoming an increasingly valuable resource and the demand for sharing or releasing data has never been higher. Organizations need to make available versions of the data they collected for business or legal reasons and at the same time they are under strong obligation to protect sensitive information about…

This dissertation examines the risk-based approach to privacy and data protection and the role of information sensitivity within risk management. Determining what information carries the greatest risk is a multi-layered challenge that involves balancing the rights and interests of multiple actors, including data controllers, data processors, and…

A problem that has been the focus of much recent research in privacy preserving data-mining is the frequent itemset hiding (FIH) problem. Identifying itemsets that appear together frequently in customer transactions is a common task in association rule mining. Organizations that share data with business partners may consider some of the frequent…

With the Internet advancements of information systems and social media channels, consumer data has become a valuable source for companies and social networking communities. These Internet businesses are allowed to use and share their customers' information, with minimal regulatory intervention other than in health and financial areas. This…

Telecommunications carriers and service providers now play an essential role in facilitating modern surveillance by law enforcement agencies. The police merely select the individuals to be monitored, while the actual surveillance is performed by third parties: often the same email providers, search engines and telephone companies to whom consumers…

We live in an era of information overload. From online news to online shopping to scholarly research, we are inundated with a torrent of information on a daily basis. With our limited time, money and attention, we often struggle to extract actionable knowledge from this deluge of data. A common approach for addressing this challenge is…

As more people seek the benefits of going online, more people are exposed to privacy risks from their time online. With a largely unregulated Internet, self-determination about privacy risks must be feasible for people from all walks of life. Yet in many cases decisions are either not obvious or not accessible. As one example, privacy policies are…

This dissertation contributes to the society by providing mechanisms that can potentially increase the availability of valuable personal level information without sacrificing the privacy of citizens. We consider two settings by which personal level data can be made available to its users such as researchers, who then may use it for the benefit of…

The development and diffusion of information and communication technologies, particularly the internet, creates a worldwide trend of using ICTs and the internet to deliver public services. This new form of electronic administration--e-government--potentially offers great benefits to society in that it can enhance public service efficiency,…

This dissertation problematizes the "state dossier system" (SDS): the production and accumulation of personal information on citizen subjects exceeding the reasonable bounds of risk management. SDS--comprising interconnecting subsystems of records and identification--damage individual autonomy and self-determination, impacting not only…