We actually lost the crypto wars

Dr. Christopher Kuner is Director of the Brussels Privacy Hub at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and an Honorary Professor at the University of Copenhagen, an Honorary Fellow of the Centre for European Legal Studies, University of Cambridge, and Senior Privacy Counsel in the Brussels office of the international law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He is also editor-in-chief of the journal International Data Privacy Law published by Oxford University Press. In this post he looks at the crypto wars of the 1990s and argues that the Snowden revelations have shown that when it comes to the Internet, we can never be sure we have won privacy battles

The internet and the global reach of EU law

EU law has significant influence on the Internet and parties outside the EU’s territorial boundaries that use it and are affected by it. The Internet has enabled the EU to extend to third countries the application of its fundamental values, including the autonomy of EU law, the rule of law, and fundamental rights. There are many examples of the EU exerting its global reach regarding the Internet, particularly in data protection law, but also in areas such as Internet governance, international agreements, and private international law. This occurs through a variety of mechanisms, including emulation and learning; international negotiation; coercion and conditionality; and blocking recognition of third country legal measures. The EU’s actions in exercising its global reach implicate important normative issues, such as distinguishing between the furtherance of core EU legal values and the advancement of the EU’s political interests; promoting the principles of EU law as universal values; ensuring that EU legal values are upheld in practice; and determining the territorial boundaries of EU law. The influence exercised by the EU carries responsibilities towards third countries, particularly those in the developing world. The Internet may also be influencing EU law, as is shown by the changing role of the Court of Justice

The Court of Justice of the EU judgment on data protection and internet search engines

In Case C-131/12 Google Spain v. AEPD and Mario Costeja Gonzalez, issued on 13 May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union made several important pronouncements about EU data protection law, and in particular recognized a right under the EU Data Protection Directive 95/46 for individuals to suppress links generated by Internet search engines (popularly referred to as the “right to be forgotten”). The Court’s holdings leave many important questions open, both in regard to technical legal issues and more high-level issues of general jurisprudential and societal importance. The Court also failed to take the significance of the case for the Internet into account. The judgment suffers from the Court’s traditionally minimalist style of argument and reluctance to adopt a more open and discursive style. The material and territorial scope of the right to suppress Internet search engine results are potentially much wider than the ability to implement the right effectively, suggesting that a way must be found to define the scope of the right in a way that is proportionate to the ability to implement it, if the judgment is to provide real protection in practice

Breathing easier: indoor air quality education program.

Background: Exposure to indoor air pollutants increases the risk for poor health outcomes and health disparities among vulnerable groups such as children. The purpose of this evidence-based project was to implement an indoor air quality program that would: 1) improve caregiver awareness of indoor and outdoor environmental health exposures and 2) increase the intention to reduce exposures to indoor household pollutants. The target population included caregivers of preschool children, ages 3 to 5 years, who currently attend the Ohio Valley Education Cooperative. Methods: This project used a pre and post test study design that included two, virtual-learning modules that reviewed content and discuss action steps for the following: 1) testing for radon and carbon monoxide, 2) reducing allergen triggers, 3) preventing moisture and mold in the home, and 4) controlling both secondhand smoke and pesticide exposure. Results: Data analysis included descriptive statistics related to age, gender, and housing status. The Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test (WSRT) was used as a nonparametric test to determine any significant difference between the pre and post test findings. In session one, a statistically significant difference was found with higher post test scores for the following categories related to awareness: overall indoor air quality, mold, and radon. Statistical significance was found for the following categories related to caregiver intention: overall indoor air quality, mold, radon, and carbon monoxide. In session two, statistical significance was found for the following categories related to awareness: overall indoor air quality, mold, radon, secondhand smoke, and pesticide exposure. Statistical significance was found for the following categories related to caregiver intention: overall indoor air quality, mold, radon, carbon monoxide, and pesticide exposure. Discussion: Improving awareness of factors that influence indoor air and intention of caregivers to implement action steps to reduce exposure to pollutants requires a multifaceted strategy that addresses the home environment and caregiver involvement

Swarm behavior of self-propelled rods and swimming flagella

Systems of self-propelled particles are known for their tendency to aggregate and to display swarm behavior. We investigate two model systems, self-propelled rods interacting via volume exclusion, and sinusoidally-beating flagella embedded in a fluid with hydrodynamic interactions. In the flagella system, beating frequencies are Gaussian distributed with a non-zero average. These systems are studied by Brownian-dynamics simulations and by mesoscale hydrodynamics simulations, respectively. The clustering behavior is analyzed as the particle density and the environmental or internal noise are varied. By distinguishing three types of cluster-size probability density functions, we obtain a phase diagram of different swarm behaviors. The properties of clusters, such as their configuration, lifetime and average size are analyzed. We find that the swarm behavior of the two systems, characterized by several effective power laws, is very similar. However, a more careful analysis reveals several differences. Clusters of self-propelled rods form due to partially blocked forward motion, and are therefore typically wedge-shaped. At higher rod density and low noise, a giant mobile cluster appears, in which most rods are mostly oriented towards the center. In contrast, flagella become hydrodynamically synchronized and attract each other; their clusters are therefore more elongated. Furthermore, the lifetime of flagella clusters decays more quickly with cluster size than of rod clusters

High-Throughput Automated Olfactory Phenotyping of Group-Housed Mice

Behavioral phenotyping of mice is often compromised by manual interventions of the experimenter and limited throughput. Here, we describe a fully automated behavior setup that allows for quantitative analysis of mouse olfaction with minimized experimenter involvement. Mice are group-housed and tagged with unique RFID chips. They can freely initiate trials and are automatically trained on a go/no-go task, learning to distinguish a rewarded from an unrewarded odor. Further, odor discrimination tasks and detailed training aspects can be set for each animal individually for automated execution without direct experimenter intervention. The procedure described here, from initial RFID implantation to discrimination of complex odor mixtures at high accuracy, can be completed within <2 months with cohorts of up to 25 male mice. Apart from the presentation of monomolecular odors, the setup can generate arbitrary mixtures and dilutions from any set of odors to create complex stimuli, enabling demanding behavioral analyses at high-throughput