Cryptographers often refer to notions of the ideal world and the real world in the development and implementation of cryptographic primitives and protocols. This framing allows them to evaluate the trustworthiness of cryptographic tools, by comparing them against an ideal standard, in which there are no security breaches, total honesty and zero corruption. But how useful is this utopian framing of the “ideal” for tools that are meant to function in the cryptographic “real” world and significantly, in cyber-physical and social “actual” worlds? The workshop “Cryptic Commons” sought to probe these questions with a series of keynote speakers from different disciplines, short examples from ongoing research and moderated, transdisciplinary debates.  

‘Cryptic commons’ refers to the common language and understandings across disciplinary boundaries that are necessary to secure the development of future cryptographic tools that are socially, culturally and ethically sound. Researchers and developers from engineering, data science and cryptography often work in disciplinary silos where specialized developments can be pursued, and expertise honed. These are valuable fora for cutting-edge research. But this sometimes comes at the cost of insight from other disciplines. If data represents citizens, and data analytics is used to make fundamental decisions about citizens, then securing this data and how it is interpreted is a deeply social endeavor. Engineers, data scientists and cryptographers are however not trained to grasp social insights that are not quantifiable. At the same time, social science and humanities researchers often work far from the sites at which data tools and analytics are developed, and so they lack an understanding of the technical logics and methods within which their colleagues work.  

This workshop brought together noted researchers interested in the development of cryptography and cyber-physical systems, and their social impacts. We invited scholars from a broad range of disciplines: cryptography, computer science, engineering and the social and human sciences to explore pathways for the collaborations and developments that are necessary for the making of cryptic commons.  

During the workshop, we probed what it means to be “stuck in the gap” and how to create “cryptic commons”.  

Keynote speakers and roundtable participants  

• Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering, University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh.
• Harold Vincent Poor, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University.
• Helen Nissenbaum, Professor at Cornell Tech and in the Information Science Department, Cornell.
• Susan Landau, Professor of Cyber Security and Policy, The Fletcher School and the School of Engineering, Tufts University.
• Michael J. Fischer, Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies, MIT.
• Rafael Wisniewski, Professor, Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University.
• Mads Græsbøll Christensen, Professor, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology.

Welcome & opening Workshop Concepts

Prof. Rafael Wisniewski, Principal Investigator SECURE
Assoc. Prof. Astrid O. Andersen & Asst. Prof. Adrienne Mannov
Signe Helbo Gregers Sørensen & Kîsta Bianco Kjær

Utopia Redux: Forty years of crypto dreams

Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering, University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh

A cryptographic view of “foregone conclusions” in compelled self-incrimination

Sarah Scheffler, PhD student, Boston University

Quick update on the Brazilian Crypto Wars

Diego Aranha, Aarhus University

Parasemiotic Synthesis

Rodrigo Ochigame, PhD candidate, MIT

Panel Discussion: Dialogue with Keynote and Presenters

Discussant:
Michael Fischer, Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies, MIT.

Panelists:
Ross Anderson, Sarah Scheffler, Diego Aranha, Rodrigo Ochigame

Machine Learning at the Wireless Edge

H. Vincent Poor, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University

Power and Participatory Hurdles: Some Preemptive Points of Caution for Participatory Approaches to Machine Learning

Manuel Sabin, UC Berkeley

Security with an incomplete communication graph

Jaron Gundersen
Postdoctoral researcher, Aalborg University (SECURE project)

From Trust to Care: A Speculative Ethics of the Actual in Cryptographic Worlds

Adrienne Mannov
Assistant Professor in Anthropology
Aarhus University

Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen
Associate Professor of Techno-anthropology
Aalborg University

Panel Discussion:
Computing at the Edges of Math and Society

Discussant:
Michael Fischer,
Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies, MIT

Panelists (SECURE researcher):
Mads Græsbøll Christensen, Manuel Sabin, Jaron Gundersen and Adrienne Mannov

Contextual Integrity Up and Down the Data Food Chain

Helen Nissenbaum,
Professor at Cornell Tech and in the Information Science Department, Cornell University.

Hacking Humans? Social engineering and the construction of the ‘deficient user’ in cyber security discourses

Nina Klimburg-Witjes,
Dep. of Science and Technology Studies, University of Vienna

How to ask without speech? On quantifying zero-evidence speech

Andreas Nautsch,
Postdoctoral research fellow, EURECOM

Secondary use of registry data for research and decision-making

Liina Kamm,
Cybernetica (Estonia)

Panel Discussion

Discussant:
Michael Fischer, Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies, MIT.

Panellists:
Prof. Helen Nisenbaum, Nina Klimburg-Witjes, Andreas Nautsch and Liina Kamm

Roundtable:
Towards an agenda for the Cryptic Commons

Susan Landau, Professor of Cyber Security and Policy, The Fletcher School and the School of Engineering, Tufts University

With Helen Nissenbaum, Ross Anderson, Rafael Wisniewski, Mads Græsbøll Christensen and Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen

Discussion led by: Prof. Michael Fischer

Closing words and end of workshop

Mads Græsbøll Christensen,
Professor, Aalborg University

Cryptographers often refer to notions of the ideal world and the real world in the development and implementation of cryptographic primitives and protocols. This framing allows them to evaluate the trustworthiness of cryptographic tools, by comparing them against an ideal standard, in which there are no security breaches, total honesty and zero corruption. But how useful is this utopian framing of the “ideal” for tools that are meant to function in the cryptographic “real” world and significantly, in cyber-physical and social “actual” worlds? The workshop “Cryptic Commons” sought to probe these questions with a series of keynote speakers from different disciplines, short examples from ongoing research and moderated, transdisciplinary debates.  

‘Cryptic commons’ refers to the common language and understandings across disciplinary boundaries that are necessary to secure the development of future cryptographic tools that are socially, culturally and ethically sound. Researchers and developers from engineering, data science and cryptography often work in disciplinary silos where specialized developments can be pursued, and expertise honed. These are valuable fora for cutting-edge research. But this sometimes comes at the cost of insight from other disciplines. If data represents citizens, and data analytics is used to make fundamental decisions about citizens, then securing this data and how it is interpreted is a deeply social endeavor. Engineers, data scientists and cryptographers are however not trained to grasp social insights that are not quantifiable. At the same time, social science and humanities researchers often work far from the sites at which data tools and analytics are developed, and so they lack an understanding of the technical logics and methods within which their colleagues work.  

This workshop brought together noted researchers interested in the development of cryptography and cyber-physical systems, and their social impacts. We invited scholars from a broad range of disciplines: cryptography, computer science, engineering and the social and human sciences to explore pathways for the collaborations and developments that are necessary for the making of cryptic commons.  

During the workshop, we probed what it means to be “stuck in the gap” and how to create “cryptic commons”.  

Keynote speakers and roundtable participants  

• Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering, University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh.
• Harold Vincent Poor, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University.
• Helen Nissenbaum, Professor at Cornell Tech and in the Information Science Department, Cornell.
• Susan Landau, Professor of Cyber Security and Policy, The Fletcher School and the School of Engineering, Tufts University.
• Michael J. Fischer, Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies, MIT.
• Rafael Wisniewski, Professor, Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University.
• Mads Græsbøll Christensen, Professor, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology.

Welcome & opening Workshop Concepts

Prof. Rafael Wisniewski, Principal Investigator SECURE
Assoc. Prof. Astrid O. Andersen & Asst. Prof. Adrienne Mannov
Signe Helbo Gregers Sørensen & Kîsta Bianco Kjær

Utopia Redux: Forty years of crypto dreams

Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering, University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh

A cryptographic view of “foregone conclusions” in compelled self-incrimination

Sarah Scheffler, PhD student, Boston University

Quick update on the Brazilian Crypto Wars

Diego Aranha, Aarhus University

Parasemiotic Synthesis

Rodrigo Ochigame, PhD candidate, MIT

Panel Discussion: Dialogue with Keynote and Presenters

Discussant:
Michael Fischer, Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies, MIT.

Panelists:
Ross Anderson, Sarah Scheffler, Diego Aranha, Rodrigo Ochigame

Machine Learning at the Wireless Edge

H. Vincent Poor, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University

Power and Participatory Hurdles: Some Preemptive Points of Caution for Participatory Approaches to Machine Learning

Manuel Sabin, UC Berkeley

Security with an incomplete communication graph

Jaron Gundersen
Postdoctoral researcher, Aalborg University (SECURE project)

From Trust to Care: A Speculative Ethics of the Actual in Cryptographic Worlds

Adrienne Mannov
Assistant Professor in Anthropology
Aarhus University

Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen
Associate Professor of Techno-anthropology
Aalborg University

Panel Discussion:
Computing at the Edges of Math and Society

Discussant:
Michael Fischer,
Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies, MIT

Panelists (SECURE researcher):
Mads Græsbøll Christensen, Manuel Sabin, Jaron Gundersen and Adrienne Mannov

Contextual Integrity Up and Down the Data Food Chain

Helen Nissenbaum,
Professor at Cornell Tech and in the Information Science Department, Cornell University.

Hacking Humans? Social engineering and the construction of the ‘deficient user’ in cyber security discourses

Nina Klimburg-Witjes,
Dep. of Science and Technology Studies, University of Vienna

How to ask without speech? On quantifying zero-evidence speech

Andreas Nautsch,
Postdoctoral research fellow, EURECOM

Secondary use of registry data for research and decision-making

Liina Kamm,
Cybernetica (Estonia)

Panel Discussion

Discussant:
Michael Fischer, Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies, MIT.

Panellists:
Prof. Helen Nisenbaum, Nina Klimburg-Witjes, Andreas Nautsch and Liina Kamm

Roundtable:
Towards an agenda for the Cryptic Commons

Susan Landau, Professor of Cyber Security and Policy, The Fletcher School and the School of Engineering, Tufts University

With Helen Nissenbaum, Ross Anderson, Rafael Wisniewski, Mads Græsbøll Christensen and Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen

Discussion led by: Prof. Michael Fischer

Closing words and end of workshop

Mads Græsbøll Christensen,
Professor, Aalborg University