Uses
Speculative uses of cryptography
In this exhibition,‘uses’ refers to all existing and speculative (future) functions and technologies in which Secure Multiparty Computation (MPC) and other cryptographic technologies are put into use. Think of it as cryptography in practice, or what engineers call ‘use-cases’, that is, a specific situation in which cryptography is or could potentially be used.
Secure Multiparty Computation has, for example, been used to analyze gender pay gaps and to manage fair auctions. In the exhibition´s VR experience, we suggest it can be used to analyze electricity use. All of these examples enable analysis without ever disclosing data to anyone.


“[Secure Multiparty Computation (MPC) is] socially very useful. But it doesn’t have any business commercial vibe (…) If I were a Goldman Sachs banker (…) it’s not actionable in any way that I can make money”.
-applied cryptographer


The Aalborg University Smart Water Infrastructures Lab works to put cryptographic functions and algorithms to use for the optimization of all kinds of water flow


What counts as useful?
We can imagine many uses, but with each implementation, cryptography meets society. Putting cryptography to use implies translation and asks us to determine what counts as “useful”.
To learn more about uses, we recommend that you read “Callisto: a cryptographic approach to detecting serial perpetrators of sexual misconduct” (2018) by Anjana Rajan, Lucy Qin, David W Archer, Dan Boneh, Tancrede Lepoint, Mayank Varia.



Illustration from Prof. H. Nissenbaum’s lecture on ”Contextual Integrity” at the Cryptic Commons workshop in May 2021


Mads Græsbøll Christensen and Adrienne Mannov discussing the potentials and pitfalls of cryptography in use – across the ideal, the real, and the actual, at video shoot, March 2021
Help us build the Cryptic Commons
What happens with trust and mistrust between people, institutions, companies and societies when data and the different ways to compute and handle data become a major part of our daily reality?
Uses
Speculative uses of cryptography
In this exhibition,‘uses’ refers to all existing and speculative (future) functions and technologies in which Secure Multiparty Computation (MPC) and other cryptographic technologies are put into use. Think of it as cryptography in practice, or what engineers call ‘use-cases’, that is, a specific situation in which cryptography is or could potentially be used.
Secure Multiparty Computation has, for example, been used to analyze gender pay gaps and to manage fair auctions. In the exhibition´s VR experience, we suggest it can be used to analyze electricity use. All of these examples enable analysis without ever disclosing data to anyone.


“[Secure Multiparty Computation (MPC) is] socially very useful. But it doesn’t have any business commercial vibe (…) If I were a Goldman Sachs banker (…) it’s not actionable in any way that I can make money”.
-applied cryptographer


The Aalborg University Smart Water Infrastructures Lab works to put cryptographic functions and algorithms to use for the optimization of all kinds of water flow


What counts as useful?
We can imagine many uses, but with each implementation, cryptography meets society. Putting cryptography to use implies translation and asks us to determine what counts as “useful”.
To learn more about uses, we recommend that you read “Callisto: a cryptographic approach to detecting serial perpetrators of sexual misconduct” (2018) by Anjana Rajan, Lucy Qin, David W Archer, Dan Boneh, Tancrede Lepoint, Mayank Varia.


Illustration from Prof. H. Nissenbaum’s lecture on ”Contextual Integrity” at the Cryptic Commons workshop in May 2021


Mads Græsbøll Christensen and Adrienne Mannov discussing the potentials and pitfalls of cryptography in use – across the ideal, the real, and the actual, at video shoot, March 2021
Help us build the Cryptic Commons
What happens with trust and mistrust between people, institutions, companies and societies when data and the different ways to compute and handle data become a major part of our daily reality?