Title: Uniqueness, Identity and Privacy
Venue: Tsinghua University, FIT Building, Room 3-125
Time: Mon, June 1st,2009  10:00am
Speaker: Professor Bart Preneel

Abstract
Technological developments bring a shrinking scale of electronics but also lead
to an increasing variance of hardware processes and an ever growing resolution
to distinguish objects.  These trends make it easier to uniquely identify all
objects and humans; in combination with the progress in information and
communication technologies this opens the door to efficient and continuous
tracking of all objects and people.  There is an increasing concern on the
implications of these developments on our society and in particular on privacy.
 Cryptographic techniques can act as a counterbalance by creating solutions
such as anonymous communications, pseudonyms and unlinkeable credentials.
However, it is not clear that they will be effective: the intertwining of
logical and physical security presents a substantial technological challenge;
in addition, the adoption of these technologies is hampered by economic and
socio-political factors (cost, risk of abuse).  This talk will try to explore
these issues with an emphasis on a technological perspective.

PS，Bart's bio:
Bart Preneel received the Doctorate in Applied Sciences from the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) where he is currently a full
professor. He was visiting professor at several universities in Europe.
His main research interests are cryptography and information security.
He has authored and co-authored more than 200 scientific publications.
He is president of the IACR (International Association for Cryptologic
Research) and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of
Cryptology and of the IEEE Transactions on Forensics and Information
Security. He has participated to 25 research projects sponsored by the
European Commission, for five of these as project manager. He has been
program chair of ten international conferences and he has been invited
speaker at more than 30 conferences. In 2003, he has received the
European Information Security Award in the area of academic research. He
has been a member of the TCPA Advisory Board. He is president of L-SEC
vzw. (Leuven Security Excellence Consortium), an association of 60
companies and research institutions in the area of e-security. He is
cofounder and conductor of the jazz ensemble of the K.U.Leuven.