SECMACE: Scalable and Robust Identity and Credential Management Infrastructure in Vehicular Communication Systems

Several years of academic and industrial research efforts have converged to a common understanding on fundamental security building blocks for the upcoming Vehicular Communication (VC) systems. There is a growing consensus towards deploying a special-purpose identity and credential management infrastructure, i.e., a Vehicular Public-Key Infrastructure (VPKI), enabling pseudonymous authentication, with standardization efforts towards that direction. In spite of the progress made by standardization bodies (IEEE 1609.2 and ETSI) and harmonization efforts (Car2Car Communication Consortium (C2C-CC)), significant questions remain unanswered towards deploying a VPKI. Deep understanding of the VPKI, a central building block of secure and privacy-preserving VC systems, is still lacking. This paper contributes to the closing of this gap. We present SECMACE, a VPKI system, which is compatible with the IEEE 1609.2 and ETSI standards specifications. We provide a detailed description of our state-of-the-art VPKI that improves upon existing proposals in terms of security and privacy protection, and efficiency. SECMACE facilitates multi-domain operations in the VC systems and enhances user privacy, notably preventing linking pseudonyms based on timing information and offering increased protection even against honest-but-curious VPKI entities. We propose multiple policies for the vehicle-VPKI interactions, based on which and two large-scale mobility trace datasets, we evaluate the full-blown implementation of SECMACE. With very little attention on the VPKI performance thus far, our results reveal that modest computing resources can support a large area of vehicles with very low delays and the most promising policy in terms of privacy protection can be supported with moderate overhead.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 10 tables, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation System

Design of secure mobile payment protocols for restricted connectivity scenarios

The emergence of mobile and wireless networks made posible the extensión of electronic commerce to a new area of research: mobile commerce called m-commerce, which includes mobile payment), that refers to any e-commerce transaction made from a mobile device using wireless networks. Most of the mobile payment systems found in the literatura are based on the full connectivity scenario where all the entities are directly connected one to another but do not support business models with direct communication restrictions between the entities of the system is not a impediment to perform comercial transactions. It is for this reason that mobile payment systems that consider those situations where direct communications between entities of the system is not posible (temporarily or permanently) basically due to the impossibility of one of the entities connected to the Internet are required. In order to solve the current shortage in the scientific world of previous research works that address the problema of on-line payment from mobile devices in connectivity restricted scenarios, in this thesis we propose a set of secure payment protocols (that use both symmetric and non-traditional asymmetric cryptography), which have low computational power requirements, are fit for scenarios with communications restrictions (where at least two of the entities of the system cannot exchange information in a direct way and must do it through another entity) and offer the same security capabilities as those protocols designed for full connectivity scenarios. The proposed protocols are applicable to other types of networks, such as vehicular ad hoc network (VANETs), where services exist which require on-line payment and scenarios with communication restrictions.On the other hand, the implementation (in a multiplatform programming language) of the designed protocols shows that their performance is suitable for devices with limited computational power.Postprint (published version

Sustainability Programs, Livelihoods and Value Chains in Southern Sumatra, Indonesia

This thesis examines the impact of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) on coffee producing smallholders in southern Sumatra, Indonesia. Recent studies of VSS have found outcomes rarely mirror theories of change presented by standards organisations. Using a case study, an examination of the institutional environments of VSS roll-out, and a producer perception survey, the thesis adopts a producer centric view of VSS roll-outs, and questions whether VSS are effective beyond a means to secure quality improvements in supply of coffee to lead firms in the value chain. Training associated with VSS favours labour and capital intensive means of agricultural modernization to improve supply, and attempts to remove the worst quality coffee from the supply chain. But this does not encourage increased investment in coffee by smallholders, as their livelihood strategies are low-risk and seek to generate income from diverse sources. Coffee is valued by smallholders because it is a low-input, reliable source of income, and sacrificing off-farm work opportunities to focus on coffee is considered unfeasible.Nevertheless, training appeals to producers, as it consolidates their social capital and provides a degree of institutional support. Some less labour-intensive aspects of training are willingly adopted, but this depends on the institutional environment (i.e. different exporter roll-out strategies, government programs, trading/patronage relationships and lead-firm/producer relationships), which varies across the study area. There has been an oversight of producer interests in assessing the outcomes of VSS. This thesis addresses this shortcoming by presenting a complex picture of smallholder livelihoods in southern Sumatra’s coffee value chain, the varied nature of corporate policy with regards to VSS, and the resulting shortcomings of the overly-simplistic VSS theories of change. In doing so, it prioritises an improvement in producer engagement and smallholder livelihoods

Vivir Bien as an Alternative to Neoliberal Globalization

Presenting an ethnographic account of the emergence and application of critical political alternatives in the Global South, this book analyses the opportunities and challenges of decolonizing and transforming a modern, hierarchical and globally-immersed nation-state on the basis of indigenous terminologies. Alternative development paradigms that represent values including justice, pluralism, democracy and a sustainable relationship to nature tend to emerge in response to – and often opposed to – the neoliberal globalization. Through a focus on the empirical case of the notion of Vivir Bien (‘Living Well’) as a critical cultural and ecological paradigm, Ranta demonstrates how indigeneity – indigenous peoples’ discourses, cultural ideas and worldviews – has become such a denominator in the construction of local political and policy alternatives. More widely, the author seeks to map conditions for, and the challenges of, radical political projects that aim to counteract neoliberal globalization and Western hegemony in defining development. This book will appeal to critical academic scholars, development practitioners and social activists aiming to come to grips with the complexity of processes of progressive social change in our contemporary global world

Chilean Voluntary Repatriation, 1978-2002: How Voluntary, How Gendered and How Classed?

This evidence-based study is about Chilean voluntary repatriation as a political process rooted in the political history of Chile and in the wider context of the end of the Cold War. It considers the two main socio-political scenarios of the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) and transitional democracy (1990-) but also brings the interim years of 1988-1990 to the fore. It focuses on the voluntary, class and gender dimensions of voluntary repatriation, arguing that decisions to return are not the product of individual choices or factors as argued in most of the literature, but influenced by a complex interplay of structures operating at the macro and micro levels. Chilean hegemonic institutions such as political parties, the Catholic Church and the family as well as patriotism along with class and gender shaped these decisions. Return discourses such as El Derecho a vivir en 10 patria, later replaced by Chile Somos Todos, were rooted in such matrix. In explaining voluntary repatriation, this study introduces a new concept to the field: the notion of returnism as a political narrative of nationhood and return-control mechanism that succesfully interwove both micro and macro levels in the exilio-retorno compression. A key finding is that the very hegemonic structures that were in place before and during exile were not only reproduced and strengthened during the dictatorship but were also used against it and termed here the like with like argument. Through the socio-political developments that took place both in Chile and exile, this study analyses the experiences of returnees. For this purpose, secondary concepts are introduced. The analysis explains why some returnees 'succeeded' and others 'failed' to find a place in Chilean society and shows paradoxically that voluntary repatriation was more sustainable under dictatorship. Overall, class and gender positioning are determinant in the 'end of the refugee cycle'