April 1, 2014

Security and Privacy for Augmented Reality Systems

Communications of the ACM

Augmented Reality (AR) technologies promise to enhance our perception of and interaction with the real world. Unlike virtual reality systems, which replace the real world with a simulated one, AR systems sense properties of the physical world and overlay computer-generated visual, audio, and haptic signals onto real-world feedback in real time. In this article, we consider the security and privacy concerns associated with AR systems themselves as well as those that arise from the supporting technologies.

March 27, 2014

Spotlight on Tech Policy Lab Scholar Franzi Roesner

(pictured with fellow Tech Policy Lab member Ada Lerner) The Tech Policy Lab has interesting projects in the works thanks to our student scholars. We are lucky to count Franzi Roesner from UW’s Computer Science & Engineering as one of our Lab members. Part of the 2013 Rising Stars in EECS at MIT, Franzi is […]

March 21, 2014

Can You Sue a Robot for Defamation? – (Forbes Cross-Post)

(Image courtesy of Katy Tresedder) Life moves pretty fast.  Especially for journalists. When an earthquake aftershock shakes America’s second largest city, news outlets scramble to be the first to cover the story.  Today the news itself made news when various outlets picked up on a curious byline over at the Los Angeles Times: “this post […]

March 1, 2014

Robot Research at the University of Washington

The Tech Policy Lab was proud to sponsor the 2014 Winter Scholars’ Studio: Robot Research @ the Commons. Scholars’ Studio is an opportunity for graduate students and postdocs to do 5 minute lightning talks describing their research. Imagine trying to explain what may have taken five years to develop for a dissertation in under 5 […]

February 24, 2014

Spotlight on Tech Policy Lab Scholar Tamara Bonaci

The Tech Policy Lab works to sponsor interesting tech events and the people involved. This week the Lab is co-sponsoring the Scholars’ Studio on Robot Research and Lab member Tamara Bonaci will be presenting her work. Tamara Bonaci is a Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington and her research focuses on […]

February 13, 2014

Spotlight on Tech Policy Lab Scholar Bryce Newell

The Tech Policy Lab is lucky enough to host half a dozen wonderful student scholars from four departments across campus.  Today we wanted to highlight the work of Bryce Clayton Newell , a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Washington’s Information School.  Bryce’s research focuses on the use of emerging technology by law enforcement and […]

January 27, 2014

Recent FDA Medical Device Regulation and Its Relevance to Robotics

(Photo Credit AmSurg) 2014 seems poised to be the year of the robot, and some of the most exciting robotic applications appear in medicine.  Regulation can hinder or facilitate innovation in medical robotics.  The giant umbrella that is digital health – which includes telehealth systems, mobile health applications and devices, sensor-based technologies, big data and […]

November 20, 2013

Security the Scariest Part About the Internet of Things – Director Kohno quoted by Washington Post

“Very often we see sectors of the broader industry that are not computer  science experts starting to integrate computers into their systems and then start to integrate networks into those systems,” said Kohno. “Because they don’t have experience being attacked by real attackers, like Microsoft and so on, their level of security awareness … appears […]

November 18, 2013

Tech Policy Lab Directors at the FTC Workshop on The Internet of Things

Our Faculty Directors Tadayoshi Kohno and Ryan Calo will be joining the expert panels for the Federal Trade Commission’s “Internet of Things” workshop on Tuesday, November 19, 2013, in Washington, DC. Tadayoshi Kohno Panel 3: Connected Cars This panel will look at the emergence of smart cars, exploring the different technologies involved with connected cars, […]

November 17, 2013

When Apps Attack – Director Calo contributes to Forbes.com

(photo credit Johan Larsson) My colleague Yoshi told me an interesting story the other day.  He looked down at his smart phone to find a large spider running across it.  Understandably, my colleague dropped the phone in surprise.  The screen on the phone cracked when it hit the floor. It turns out there was no […]