Development of an ECDLP based Traceable Blind Signature Scheme and its Application to E-Auction.

With the increase in internet users, E-Commerce has been grown exponentially in recent years. E-Auction is one among them. But its security and robustness is still a challenge. The electronic auction centers remain to be insecure and anonymity, bid privacy and other requirements are under the threat by malicious hackers. Any auction protocol must not leak the anonymity and bid privacy of an honest bidder. Keeping these requirements in mind, we have proposed a new electronic auction scheme using blind signature. Moreover our scheme is based upon elliptic curve cryptography which provides similar level of security with comparatively smaller key size. Due to the smaller key size, the space requirement can be reduced which further allows our E-Auction scheme to implement in a mobile application which has a constrained environment like low bandwidth, memory and computational power. Blind signature is a special kind of digital signature where the message privacy can be retained by blinding the message and getting a signature on that. It can be universally verifiable and signer can’t repudiate of signing the document. Moreover it also satisfies the integrity and authenticity of the message. Due to these features of a blind signature, it can easily be applied on an E-Auction scheme. So we have proposed an efficient blind signature protocol according to the requirements of E-Auction which is based upon the hard problem of solving elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem(ECDLP). Then we have successfully applied it in our E-Auction scheme. In this thesis, we developed an Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem (ECDLP) based blind signature scheme which can be implemented on our E-Auction protocol. Both the schemes are proved to be resistant to active attacks and satisfies the requirements which are necessary for online auction

Blind Justice: Fairness with Encrypted Sensitive Attributes

Recent work has explored how to train machine learning models which do not discriminate against any subgroup of the population as determined by sensitive attributes such as gender or race. To avoid disparate treatment, sensitive attributes should not be considered. On the other hand, in order to avoid disparate impact, sensitive attributes must be examined, e.g., in order to learn a fair model, or to check if a given model is fair. We introduce methods from secure multi-party computation which allow us to avoid both. By encrypting sensitive attributes, we show how an outcome-based fair model may be learned, checked, or have its outputs verified and held to account, without users revealing their sensitive attributes.Comment: published at ICML 201

Digital Rights Management and Consumer Acceptability: A Multi-Disciplinary Discussion of Consumer Concerns and Expectations

The INDICARE project – the Informed Dialogue about Consumer Acceptability of DRM Solutions in Europe – has been set up to raise awareness about consumer and user issues of Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions. One of the main goals of the INDICARE project is to contribute to the consensus-building among multiple players with heterogeneous interests in the digital environment. To promote this process and to contribute to the creation of a common level of understanding is the aim of the present report. It provides an overview of consumer concerns and expectations regarding DRMs, and discusses the findings from a social, legal, technical and business perspective. A general overview of the existing EC initiatives shows that questions of consumer acceptability of DRM have only recently begun to draw wider attention. A review of the relevant statements, studies and reports confirms that awareness of consumer concerns is still at a low level. Five major categories of concerns have been distinguished so far: (1) fair conditions of use and access to digital content, (2) privacy, (3) interoperability, (4) transparency and (5) various aspects of consumer friendliness. From the legal point of view, many of the identified issues go beyond the scope of copyright law, i.e. the field of law where DRM was traditionally discussed. Often they are a matter of general or sector-specific consumer protection law. Furthermore, it is still unclear to what extent technology and an appropriate design of technical solutions can provide an answer to some of the concerns of consumers. One goal of the technical chapter was exactly to highlight some of these technical possibilities. Finally, it is shown that consumer acceptability of DRM is important for the economic success of different business models based on DRM. Fair and responsive DRM design can be a profitable strategy, however DRM-free alternatives do exist too.Digital Rights Management; consumers; Intellectual property; business models

Lenz v. Universal: A Call to Reform Section 512(f) of the DMCA and to Strengthen Fair Use

Under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), those who issue materially false takedown notices are liable for damages. However, Section 512(f) has not effectively protected fair use. Currently, the DMCA issuer only has to prove he considered fair use before issuing a takedown notice, but faces no liability for actually taking action against fair use. The outcome of the recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case Lenz v. Universal shows the flaws in the language of the DMCA. This Article calls for a mild adjustment to Section 512(f) for the purpose of protecting fair use and free expression rights

Decentralized Decision Making for Limited Resource Allocation Using a Private Blockchain Network in an IoT (Internet of Things) Environment with Conflicting Agents

Blockchains have gotten popular in recent times, owing to the security, anonymity, and lack of any third-party involvement. Blockchains essentially are record keeping tools that record any transactions between involved parties. One of the key aspects of handling and navigating of any autonomous traffic on the streets, is secured and simple means of communication. This thesis explores distribution of minimum resources between multiple autonomous agents, by settling conflicts using events of random nature. The thesis focusses on two specific events, tossing of a coin and the game of rock, paper, and scissors (RPS). An improvement on the traditional game of RPS is further suggested, called rock, paper, scissors, and hammer (RPSH). And then seamless communication interface to enable secure interaction is setup using blockchains with smart contracts. A new method of information exchange called Sealed Envelope Exchange is proposed to eliminate any involvement of third-party agents in the monitoring of conflict resolution. A scenario of assigning the sole remaining parking spot in a filled parking space, between two vehicles is simulated and then the conflict is resolved in a fair manner without involving a third-party agent. This is achieved by playing a fair game of RPSH by using blockchains and simulating cross chain interaction to ensure that any messages and transactions during the game are secured