Instrumentation Research
Weizmann Institute of Science
Summer 1986

Hard Drive Research
Harvard Univeristy
2006

Background and Bio

Career #1: Science writer & entrepreneur
1983–1987 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology•SB Chemistry; SB Political Science; SB Science, Technology & Society•Thesis: Radio Research, McCarthyism and Paul F. Lazarsfeld

1987–1988 — Columbia University School of Journalism•MS Journalism (Science Journalism)•Thesis: Tenant Screening Services in the United States —1988–2002 — Freelance writer, computer consultant, entrepreneur•1988–1993 — Science writer @ The Christian Science Monitor•1988–1990 — Consultant @ Polaroid, medical imaging workstation•1995–2002 — President @ Vineyard.NET Internet Service Provider•1997–2002 — Columnist @ The Boston Globe•2002–2005 — Columnist @ Technology Review•1998–2005 — Founder, Treasurer, Chief Scientist @ Sandstorm
Simson L. Garfinkel Bio

2

First focus area — impact of computers on society
Tenant Screening
Services or

Tenant Blacklisting?
BY SIMSON L. GARFINKELR

uth Cisneros is trapped in her
apartment by a computer she has
never seen. Seven years ago,
Cisneros'landlord of three months wanted her out.
"I don't want you here and that's that,"
Cisneros said the landlord told her.
The landlord sued to have Cisneros
evicted, but the judge dismissed the suit as
groundless. At the end of the year,
Cisneros' landlord had a change of heartand renewed the lease. Twice more thecycle repeated. The only real effect of thesuits was to put a notation in a privatecompany's computer that somebody had
filed three times to get Cisneros evicted.
The problem is that nearly all of Southern California's landlords use that computer to help evaluate rental applications.
If somebody has ever tried to evict you,
you don't get the apartment. Often you
don't even get a phone call back.
In March 1987, Cisneros applied to livein the Promenade Apartments. Her application was rejected because the computer,
operated by the UD Registry Inc., provided the Promenade with a record of thethree eviction attempts. Even a letter from
Cisneros' new landlord saying that she wasa model tenant wasn't enough to counteract the judgement of the computer.
California state law forbids companies
from reporting eviction actions in which
the tenant is victorious. But the owner ofthe computer, Harvey Saltz, said having a_dismissed i!i PQt
Sl@e as having thetenant win in court. Cisneros, along witheight other people, have filed suit against
UDR for damages resulting from faulty
reporting. The case is still pending.
Computerized tenant screening services(TSSs) like UDR now operate in many
cities. TSS operators say they provide anindispensable tool that allows landlords todistinguish "good" tenants from "bad"ones. Landlords say screening is their only
defense against destructive tenant-s who
know how to use the courts to avoid paying
rent. As for Cisneros, Saltz said that noneof her allegations are true and that nothing
he has done is illegal.
Attempts to regulate TSSs have failed inseveral states and in Congress. As for thefederal Fair Credit Reporting Act - thelaw that Congress passed in 1970 to stymie
abuses in the credit reporting industry few of its terms are applicable to TSSs, andthe agency which polices the law says thatit may not even apply.

applicant's credit and eviction history isdisplayed on the operator's computer
screen within fifteen seconds. "People getall of the information before they hang up
the phone," said Saltz.
"We give the little guys access to big
brother," said Neil Van Sant, co-owner ofTies Landlord Information Exchange(Howell, New Jersey). Much of the information reported by TSSs has always been
available, but until now it has always been
too cumbersome for landlords to search
the records. Screening services change
that.
The theory is that if a person has a history of being a problem tenant the behavior
pattern is likely to continue. But some of
the information reported, like successfully
defending a rent strike in court, can only
be used by landlords to discriminate

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The Dean of Disaster
Plane crashes, nuclear reactor accidents,
explosions at chemical plants - if computers were at fault,Peter Neumann knows all about it.
By Simson L. Garfinkel`1Big Brother is Watching
Most services charge between $10 and$30 for a report. This charge can be passed
on to tenants as an "application fee." Thesearch is initiated by a telephone call froma landlord. The landlord tells the operator
the name, social security number, driver's
license number, and last known address of
the applicant. In the case of UDR, theagainst a tenant who knows his rights. "It's
not a credit check its's an organization
check," said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, president of the New Jersey Tenants Organization.
A screening service's main source of
information comes from workers who
travel to housing courts and record eviction
filings and settlements. But the collection
SHELTERFORCE 0 9

e's a fantastic storyteller, he's always ready with apun, and he can play two recorders at once H
simultaneously piping out both melody and accompaniment - while he beats the rhythm with his foot But tohundreds of thousands of people around the world, Peter
G. Neumann is best known for moderating RISKS-Forum,
one of the Internet's most widely read electronic forums.
What are computer
RISKS? Any use of computers that might accidentally lead to loss oflife, property, or money.
They are dangers as
simple as sending credit
card numbers by e-mail(which could bounce
into unauthorized

last page of Communications of the Associationfor Compu
ing Machinery, the journal of the ACM. He's also putting thfinishing touches on a book about software safety and risk
Its tentative title? "RISKS: The Book - as opposed to RISKS
the movie and RISKS the game," Neumann jokes.
Neumann got his start with computers in 1953 as anundergraduate at Harvard. There he worked on the Harvard Mark I - the same computer that was incapacitatedby the first "bug" (a moth that flew into a relay). Afterearning a doctorate in applied mathematics at Harvard an
a doctorate from the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, Germany, he headed Bell Labs's participation in theMultics project - one of the earliest attempts to build areliable and secure computer system.
Working on Multics taught Neumann the futility of buili
ing risk-free systems: Every time he tried to design a system that had no weak links and no security flaws, new one 3

Especially relevant given the increased focus on Algorithmic Transparency & Accountability
Simson L. Garfinkel Bio

15 Books (1991–2014) — 9 collaborators
1991 - Practical UNIX Security (w/ Gene Spafford)
1992 - NeXTSTEP Programming (w/ Michael Mahoney)
1994 - PGP: Pretty Good Privacy
1994 - The UNIX-Haters Handbook (w/ D. Weise & S. Strassmann)
1996 - Practical UNIX and Internet Security (w/ Gene Spafford)
1997 - Web Security and Commerce (w/ Gene Spafford)
1998 - Stopping Spam (w/ Alan Schwartz)
1999 - Architects of the Information Society (w/ Hal Abelson)
2000 - Database Nation
2002 - Web Security, Privacy & Commerce (w/ Gene Spafford)
2002 - Building Cocoa Applications (w/ Michael Mahoney)
2003 - Practical UNIX and Internet Security (w/ Gene Spafford & Alan Schwartz)
2005 – RFID: Applications, Security and Privacy (w/ Beth Rosenberg) + contributors
2005 – Security and Usability (w/ Lorrie Cranor) + contributors
2014 – Usable Security: History, Themes and Challenges (w/ Heather Lipford)

Hal Abelson

Lorrie Cranor

Heather Lipford Michael K. Mahoney Beth Rosenberg

Simson L. Garfinkel Bio

Alan Schwartz

Gene Spaﬀord

Steve Strassmann

Daniel Weise4`~êÉÉê=@OW=^Å~ÇÉãáÅ
2002–2005 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology•PhD Computer Science•Thesis: Design Principles and Patterns for Computer Systems That Are Simultaneously Secure and Usable

2006–2007 — Harvard University School of Eng. and Applied Sciences•Postdoctorate fellow, Center for Research on Computation and Society•Digital forensics and privacy

2007–2014 — Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey & Arlington)•Associate Professor (tenured 2012), Dept. of Computer Science.
•Digital forensics and privacy•Advised IT Director & CIO on NPS network, academic computing systems & supercomputer

2015–2016 — National Institute of Standards and Technology•Information Access Division•Big Data and Privacy (De-Identification)•NITRD National Privacy Research Strategy•Cybersecurity "High Assurance Domain" project
Simson L. Garfinkel Bio

5Affiliations with 11 US and 2 international colleges & universities.
Proven academic & corporate researcher.
Current and past affiliations with many universities:•Student — Bryn Mawr College (1981-1983), MIT (1983-1987; 2002-2005), Columbia (1987-1988)•Non-teaching payroll employee — Weitzmann Inst. (1985), Brown (1987), Harvard (2005-2006)•Visiting researcher — University of Washington (1997), University of Auckland (2005)•Faculty — Northeastern (2005), Harvard (2004-05), NPS (2006-14), George Mason (2015), Georgetown (2015-16)

Established academic researcher:•22 refereed journal articles (1988-2016); 39 refereed conference papers (1998-2015)•2 PhD committees; 18 masters students; >45 program committees•3 conference chairs; 4 conference co-chairs; 1 associate editor (Computers & Security)•ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Fellow; member ACM US Public Policy Council

Established corporate researcher:•7 patents;•2 products (SBook, PhoneSweep) that successfully commercialized AI-based research
Simson L. Garfinkel Bio

6

Experience with other federal agencies
Commerce — Employee for 2 years (2015-2016)•June 29 Government Data De-Identification Stakeholder's Meeting; 105 registered attendees from 67 different agencies•Census — Joint research on privacy issues • Privacy training for Federal Privacy Council

DOD — Employee for 8 years (2005-2015)•Navy/Naval Postgraduate School — Taught courses; research•DARPA — Performer on 2 projects; provided guidance on human subjects issues•NSA (National Security Agency) — Taught courses; technology transfer•DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) — Technology transfer; embedded in an intelligence center; mentoring•USMC (United States Marine Corps) — Performer, technology transfer

DHS (Department of Homeland Security) (2008-2014)•Performer; technology transfer; source-selection

FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) (2007-2014)•performer; technology transfer, teaching & mentoring

NSF•Grant recipient; panels
Simson L. Garfinkel Bio

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Experience with legislative process and oversight committees
Testimony•Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (2000)
Internet privacy

Subcommittee on Privacy, Confidentiality & Security, National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics•(2016)
De-Identification

Responding to oversight requests•Prepared statements and reports for numerous "data calls"•Responded to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests

Volunteer work, Electronic Privacy Information Center•In-depth discussions on technology with EPIC Director & advisory board•Directed three technology migrations (web hosting; email service; Internet connection)
Simson L. Garfinkel Bio

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Deep commitment to diversity and equity.
12

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Tuesdav. lav 9. 1989

THE Cii1USTIAN SCIENCE MoNrrox

Tuesday. May 9, I 989

EDUCATION UNTAPPED HUMAN RESOURCE

Gender Gap on the Science Tracknf

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ence museum, poised before

an exhibit on magnetism: The boys
run up and play with the controls,
while the girls remain in the back,watching.
This scene, repeated daily
across the United States, is at theheart of a pressing educational
problem, according to a growing
number of scientists, educators, andgovernment officials. In a worldthat is increasingly scientific andtechnical, America needs more scientists and engineers, but morethian half the student population istaking itself out of the picture by noteven trying.
The problem, says Marsha
Lakes Matvas of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), can be t raced to something that she calls "the coatrack
syndrome.""The family will go to the science
museum, Dad will help the kids do
the experiments, and Mom will holdthe coats," says Dr. Matyas, who directs the AAAS project on womenand science.
The national problem is compounded by a decline in the size of
Bethe college-age population.
tween 1980 and 2000, the number of
18- to 24-year-olds in the United

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States will decline 19 percent, according to the US Census Bureau.
Although the population is expected
to increase slowly after that. by theyear 2010 one in every three 18year-olds will be black or Hispanic.
minorities that thus far have been
largely excluded from studying science.
Last year, a congressionallymandated task force on Women, Minorities, and the Handicapped in
Science and Technology concluded
that if the US is to maintain its position as a world leader in science,
more women and minority students
must be attracted to the traditionally white, male fields of science andengineering.
What is happening instead, says
Beverly F. Porter, a statistician at
the American Institute of Physics, isthat as fewer Americans come forward to fill spots at universities,
those places are being taken up byforeign students. Between 1975 and1987, says Ms. Porter, the number ofphysics graduate students with US
citizenship at American colleges
steadily decreased, while the number of foreign graduate students
sharply rose.
Indeed, she says, the growing
number of women receiving doctorates in biology and chemistry is almost entirely due to foreign women.
Only half those students will pursue
their careers in the US, Porter estimates.
A similar trend has been observed at the undergraduate level.
"The proportion of US freshmenchoosing science and engineeringmajors has been wobbling downward," the task force reports. "Thedrop has been little noticed because
many foreign students have beenenrolling in these fields.""People are becoming moreaware that there is a problem, particularly with minority students,"
says Matyas. "A lot of people thinkthat the problem with girls is solved.
It is far from solved . . . In fact, we

My work shows the importance ofreaching out to groups that havebeen historically marginalized.
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Shun Physics
Why Girlswith
non-traditional students& scientists
DiSi; i;i m nyways the most exacting of the sciences, has

ha.
A d. s'peciiproblems recruiting woniser to its r'ank. .i:
Wi'h:hIe the mber of first-year physics graduate students in the
United States nitcreaef between 1979 and 1987, tlhatincrease :wasabest enrfeyise upby foreign students, says Beverly F. Porter,.
a sttitician at tie American Institute of Physics.
a "physics track," which starts with the first.'M
ss: Pterrihigh schofoiphysicosrse and extends to postgraduate ritrci
But the e rwheiifing mniajority ofwobren never even take the fist

Simson L. Garfinkel Bio

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Tuesday, February 27, 1990

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

13CONCENTIATON:Parentssay thatgirls 'work harder' than boys do to excel in math.

are backsliding."from taking the math courses, andAfter a decade of steady increas- automatically they [are] not qualies, the percentage of women choos- fied to come to a place like this, evening to major in engineering peaked if they change their minds at theat 17 in 1982, says Betty Vetter, ex- last moment."
ecutive director of the Commission
This all happens, says Jacqueon Professionals in Science and Iynne S. Eccles, a psychologist at theTechnology, a nonprofit research University of Colorado, "despite thegroup in Washington. "Since then, fact that females, in general, get
it has been between 15 and 16 per- better grades in math and science
than males."cent every year.
"Certain aspects ofhis life have
Researchers believe almost
For the past 12 years, Dr. Eccles
beenlargely neglected by male bia collection of 15
Byisn't
Simsonunanimously that the problem
has been
L. studying
Garinkelographers," said Dr. Troemelschool
districts
in southeasternthat girls aren't as good at mathStffandwritbr ol
The Chrisn
Sieoce Mlonito
Ploetz,who is working in thescience as boys - it's that they don't Michigan - from the inner cities
toUnited States with a researcheven try.
farmingcommunities - following
NEW ORLEANS"It starts from the time they are students from fifth grade throughgrant from the West German govlittle," says MarileeJones, associateLBERT
is atof college. She ernment.
the first year EINSTEIN
For example, she says,
director of admissions at the Mas- tempting to learn how student,
sometimes helped his first in the 1979 biography, "Albertsachusetts Institute of Technology. teacher, and parent attitudes aboutwife do the household Einstein: The Human Side - New"Girls are not perceived as being sci- math and science have affected thechores:feltcourses
sorry ofthat
after Glimpses From His Archives,"
scien-"Hestudy.
entists, little kindergarten
pupils'her housework was
she hadtists. Little boys are."parents"there
and is not a single letter writtenrole that"The done,
all mathematicalto either his first wife or his chilGirls, Ms. Jones says,to "getplay is underestiteachers seem toproblems
do hismath not even a single letter or
the girls'
potential
those little cues, they get all
till thewayso-pastmating
midnight,"
says
Senta in dren,
cial stuff, and by the time they
reach
less
likely in which their names are
...
and
being
and
science
Troemel-Ploetz, a linguist and text
high school, they get discouraged to encourage girls who have talent
historian. in math and science to go on, develmentioned."
But wasopMileva
Maric' and Einstein met at the
Maric'andmerely
skills, and conthose talents
Swiss
Einstein's housekeeper
algefields,"
she Federal Institute of Techin thosesider occupation andI
To
Percent
braic assistant,says. or was she a physi- nology in 1896. They took almost
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irst Wife's Role in Einstein's Work DebatedResearchers differ about the contribution Mileva Maric '-Einstein made to major discoveries

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In the 41 letters from Einstein awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize. letters have survived. "Sources
to Maric' tiat have been pubEinstein left Maric' in 1914. about women disappear," said
ished, there are frequent refer- She frequently had to take in Troemel-Ploetz. "It doesn't meanences to "our research" and "our boarders to buy food for herself that they were intentionally dework." In one letter, Einstein and the couple's two children. stroyed: It is just negligence."
wrote: "For the work on the"True, only 10 of her letThomson effect I took refuge
A' ; da_, ters to him are preserved,
to still another method which
compared to 41 of his to her,
has a certain similarity with 'How happy and proud I will be but you could not pick 10 ofyours ... and which also pre- when the two of us together wi II his so devoid of discussions ofsupposes your investigation have brought our work on thephysics,"arguedJohn
Stachel,aprofessor
atBostonIf only we could start tomorrow!"
relative mo tion [the theory of
University, who edited theEinstein eventually se- relativity] to a victorious
first two volumes of Einstein's
papers. "The fact remains
cured ajob as an examinerconclusion.'
the Swiss Patent Office inthat you can't get away from1902, and the couple mar- Letterfrom Einsteiin physics in his letters, whileried at the beginning of 1903.
to Maric', March 190/I there is none in hers."
9

Bio summary

Two careers — science journalist & government academic
Committed to interdisciplinary work
Committed to scientific communication
Committed to diversity of all kinds

Simson L. Garfinkel Bio

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