Helen Nissenbaum
Department: Cornell Tech
Colleges / Universities: Cornell University
Contact
2 West Loop Road
New York, NY 10044
Email: helen.nissenbaum@cornell.edu
Website: Cornell Tech faculty profile
Helen Nissenbaum is Professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech. Her research takes an ethical perspective on policy, law, science, and engineering relating to information technology, computing, digital media, and data science. Topics have included privacy, trust, accountability, security, and values in technology design.
Professor Nissenbaum’s books include Obfuscation: A User's Guide for Privacy and Protest, with Finn Brunton (MIT Press, 2015) and Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life (Stanford, 2010).
Grants from the NSF, AFOSR, and the U.S. DHHS-ONC have supported her work. Recipient of the 2014 Barwise Prize of the American Philosophical Association, Professor Nissenbaum has contributed to privacy-enhancing software, including TrackMeNot and AdNauseam.
Degrees
Ph.D. Philosophy, Stanford University, 1983
M.A. Social Sciences in Education, Stanford University, 1978
B.A. Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, 1976
B.A. Mathematics and Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, 1975
Recent Academic Article Summaries
Contextual Integrity Through the Lens of Computer Science
The theory of contextual integrity defines privacy as an information flow appropriate to the social context in which data is exchanged. This study of how computer scientists that use contextual integrity theory shows that they are not consistent in identifying the relevant context and social norms.
Computer scientists should consider how privacy norms can best be identified.
Privacy Interests in Public Records: An Empirical Investigation
Generally, privacy regulation does not protect the privacy of information derived from public records. However, research shows that people disapprove of the use of data from public records in a wide range of contexts, particularly if the data is derived from voting records.
Policymakers should reconsider the level of privacy protection for data derived from public records.
Sustaining Privacy and Open Justice in the Transition to Online Court Records: A Multidisciplinary Inquiry
This article evaluates privacy issues and possible solutions for courts to transition from paper to digital records.
As courts transition to digital record keeping, access to these records can now be made available online with an unprecedented level of ease. However, with this new level of access comes addition of privacy concerns that may need to be addressed by policy makers going forward.
A Contextual Approach to Privacy Online
This paper urges new strategies to protect privacy online that incorporates the Internet’s diverse non-commercial uses.
Policymakers should extend already familiar social values to analogous practices on the Net, and should develop norms based on the appropriate flow of information for the diverse aspects of life online.
From Preemption to Circumvention: If Technology Regulates, Why Do We Need Regulation (And Vice Versa)?
Explores how technologies and laws can be made to work together to influence and regulate the course of social change.
Regulators should consider legal recognition of the principle of “respect for expressive choice” in regard to user preferences online, and place restrictions on the length and obfuscatory language of online Terms of Service.
Blog Posts
Quotes in the News
Nissenbaum, H. (2018, April 24). The New York Times Magazine.The old public-private distinction postulates “only two contexts with distinct sets of informational norms for each — privacy constraints in the private, anything goes in the public. The framework of contextual integrity, by contrast, postulates a multiplicity of social contexts, each with a distinctive set of rules governing information flows.”
Helen Nissenbaum
Cornell Tech
Cornell University
Nissenbaum, H. (2015, November 16). Christian Science Monitor.“Our argument is that when you're looking at any obfuscation tool, in order to come out at the end and say, 'Yes, this is morally acceptable,' you need to analyze the specific design and implementation of that system.”
Helen Nissenbaum
Cornell Tech
Cornell University
Nissenbaum, H. (2014, May 14). Huffington Post.“The problem with the way we think about privacy at the moment is it’s all or nothing. We either release the information or we don’t. And once we release it, well, tough luck.”
Helen Nissenbaum
Cornell Tech
Cornell University
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