The Sustainable Computing Lab

The Facebook Oversight Board: The First Year
2021-04-15 12:00 - 13:30 (Europe/Paris)
Speaker: Kate Klonick (St. John’s University Law School)
Registration: internetrecht@jur.uni-frankfurt.de
More information: normativeorders.net/internetforschung

Die Renaissance des Staats im Internet?
2021-05-13 12:00 - 13:30
Speaker: Anna Sophia Tiedeke (Humboldt-Universität Berlin)
Registration: internetrecht@jur.uni-frankfurt.de
More information: normativeorders.net/internetforschung

Cybersecurity and Semi-State Actors: Pirates, Privateers, and Mercantile Companies?
2021-06-17 12:00 - 13:30
Speaker: Florian Johannes Egloff (ETH Zürich)
Registration: internetrecht@jur.uni-frankfurt.de
More information: normativeorders.net/internetforschung

Victor Morel: Enhancing Transparency and Consent in the IoT
2021-06-25 13:00 - 14:00 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing fast, but this growth is not without consequence. Indeed, the increasing number of devices raises the possibility of surveillance to a level never seen before. In parallel, the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018 imposes obligations to data controllers on the content of information about personal data collection and processing, and on the means of communication of this information to data subjects. This information is all the more important that it is required for consent, which is one of the legal grounds to process personal data. However, the Internet of Things can pose difficulties to implement lawful information communication and consent management. The tension between the requirements of the GDPR for information and consent and the Internet of Things cannot be easily solved, it is however possible. This presentation sketches a solution for information communication and consent management in the Internet of Things from a technological point of view.
Speaker: Victor Morel
Victor Morel holds a PhD in computer science from Inria, conducted in the Privatics team. His research interests include privacy engineering, design, networks, and ethics of technology in a broad manner. He appreciates sober, hackable, and accessible technology that works.

Vincent Roca | Smart Bulbs and Privacy: Lost in the Smart Jungle
2021-10-01 12:00 - 13:00 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Title:
Smart Bulbs and Privacy: Lost in the Smart Jungle
Speaker:
Vincent Roca
French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (Inria)
Collaborators: Mathieu Thiery, Michael Toth, Vincent Roca, Arnaud Legout (Inria)
When?
Friday, 1. October 2021; 12:00 CEST
Online event via Zoom:
For a link to the meeting, please contact: events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Abstract:
In the current Internet of Things (IoT) era, smart homes are getting increasingly equipped with connected devices, with privacy implications that largely remain unknown to the end-user. In this talk, we focus on three representative and popular smart bulbs, manufactured by Philips, IKEA and LIFX. We analyze the privacy implications of various techniques to control these bulbs—i.e., switching them ON and OFF—, using various smartphone applications, smart speakers and smart buttons. We show that these techniques determine the remote actors concerned (who are aware of what is going on) and the volume of data sent to the Internet (we measured major differences), and we observe that data often leave the user’s house and country (even though the user is at home). Finally, by analyzing the Privacy Policies we highlight that, in most cases, the end-user cannot reasonably understand the situation. The whole situation is neither respectful of the user’s privacy, nor legal (no user consent), nor sovereign (it creates dependencies on foreign actors). For these reasons, we call for different architectures that would favor local communications and data minimization, with the additional benefit of significantly reducing the ecological footprint.
Bio:
After a PhD from Grenoble INP in 1996, Vincent Roca joins the University Paris 6 as Associate Professor in 1997, and Inria as researcher in 2000. Specialised in networking, author of fourteen Internet standards (RFCs), since 2017 he is co-chair of an IETF research group, the organisation in charge of Internet standardisation. Member of PRIVATICS since 2012, he is now leading this Inria research team specialised in privacy and personal data protection. He focusses in particular on the privacy risks associated to the use of smartphones and Internet of Things devices. He is also co-author, with PRIVATICS colleagues, of the ROBERT and CLÉA protocols that are the foundations of the contact and presence tracing features of the French official TousAntiCovid app.
More information on https://privatics.inrialpes.fr/people/roca/
Chairs:
Arianna Rossi, University of Luxembourg
Cristiana Teixeira Santos, Utrecht University
Martin Degeling, Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB)
Soheil Human, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien)

Daniel Woods: Privacy Preference Signals: Past, Present and Future
2021-10-08 12:00 - 13:00 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Title:
Privacy Preference Signals: Past, Present and Future
Abstract:
Privacy preference signals are digital representations of how users want their personal data to be processed. Such signals must be adopted by both the sender (users) and intended recipients (data processors). Adoption represents a coordination problem that remains unsolved despite efforts dating back to the 1990s. Browsers implemented standards like the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) and Do Not Track (DNT), but vendors profiting from personal data faced few incentives to receive and respect the expressed wishes of data subjects. In the wake of recent privacy laws, a coalition of AdTech firms published the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF), which defines an opt-in consent signal. This talk integrates post-GDPR developments into the wider history of privacy preference signals. The story is illustrated with a number of web measurements.

Biography:
Daniel Woods is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Innsbruck. His research explores the incentive and information structures that determine how organisations make decisions about cybersecurity and privacy. He received his PhD from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford. Website: danielwoods.info
Chairs:
Arianna Rossi, SnT, University of Luxembourg
Cristiana Teixeira Santos, Utrecht University
Martin Degeling, Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB)
Soheil Human, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien)

Advanced Data Protection Control (ADPC): An Interdisciplinary Introduction
2021-10-13 15:30 - 18:00 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Overview:
Advanced Data Protection Control (ADPC) is a proposed automated mechanism for communicating users’ privacy decisions. It aims to empower users to protect their online choices in a human-centric, easy and enforceable manner. ADPC also supports online publishers and service providers to comply with data protection and consumer protection regulations. In this event, we introduce ADPC from both technical and socio-legal perspectives and discuss different challenges ahead. ADPC is co-developed by the Sustainable Computing Lab (WU Wien) and NOYB as a part of our joint RESPECTeD project funded by netidee.
Program:
15:30 – 16:00 Technical Introduction
16:00 – 16:30 Discussion
16:30 – 16:45 Break
16:45 – 17:15 Socio-legal Introduction
17:15 – 18:00 Discussion
Speakers (alphabetically ordered):

Soheil Human
Gerben
Max Schrems
Alan Toner

Johanne Kübler: Après nous, le déluge—A Quest for Platform Accountability
2021-10-29 12:00 - 13:00 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Title:
Après nous, le déluge: A Quest for Platform Accountability
Abstract:
Large online platform’s influence and ubiquity are increasingly questioned. Recently Whistleblower Frances Haugen told the US Congress how Facebook harms children, sows division and undermines democracy in pursuit of growth and profit. Independent research has backed up these claims, for example, when a study I co-authored found that there were significant amounts of problematic election-related content both on Facebook and Twitter during the run-up to the German federal elections. So what can be done about it? In my talk I will briefly discuss evidence of harm done by social media to then examine possible solutions. How does the proposed Digital Services Act at EU-level increase accountability of large online platforms? How could it be improved?
About Johanne Kübler:
Johanne Kübler is a researcher with expertise on digital politics, online activism, technology policy and human rights. Her current projects concentrate on content governance and accountability of social media platforms. She holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and a Master degree in Comparative Politics from Sciences Po Paris. Her previous work experience includes positions in academia, academic consultancy and in the non-governmental sector with a focus on human rights.
Sustainable Comupting Lecture Series
Chairs:
Soheil Human, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien)
Arianna Rossi, SnT, University of Luxembourg
Cristiana Teixeira Santos, Utrecht University
Martin Degeling, Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB)

Rigo Wenning: Computer-aided Dynamic Consent
2021-11-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Title:
Computer-aided Dynamic Consent
Speaker: Rigo Wenning (European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics)
Abstract:
Rigo Wenning will give a short history of rights labelling techniques and then enter into the specifics of using this technology in the data protection context. The talk will be interdisciplinary touching on legal as well as technical aspects of this challenging area.
About Rigo Wenning:
Rigo Wenning is the legal counsel of the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (GEIE ERCIM), a joint venture of Fraunhofer, IIT-CNR, INRIA and ICS-FORTH. GEIE ERCIM is the European host of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) where Rigo also acts as legal counsel. He is attorney at law registered with the Frankfurt bar association. He studied law in Saarbrücken and Nancy and was Assistant at the center for computing and law. Apart from legal advice, Rigo does research in the area of privacy and security. He has been involved in a number of research projects in this area. Rigo Wenning is member of the European Multistakeholder Platform for standardisation of the European Commission, member of the board of Deutscher EDV-Gerichtstag and also member of the scientific council of the Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology University Library (TIB).
Sustainable Comupting Lecture Series
Chairs:
Soheil Human, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien)
Arianna Rossi, SnT, University of Luxembourg
Cristiana Teixeira Santos, Utrecht University
Martin Degeling, Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB)

Martin Degeling: Tracking, Profiling and the GDPR
2021-12-17 12:00 - 13:00 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Title:
Tracking, Profiling and the GDPR
Speaker: Martin Degeling (Ruhr University Bochum)
Short bio:
Martin Degeling is a post-doctoral researcher at Ruhr University Bochum. He finished his PhD in 2016 and worked at Carnegie Mellon University before returning to Bochum in 2018. Is research on online privacy is based on empirical methods to measure the personal data information flows and encompasses studies on all ends of these social-technical systems from end-users to developers and privacy experts.
Abstract:

Informational privacy has become a primary concern for societies in the digital age. While we, as users, appreciate new ways to communicate and express ourselves, there are drawbacks of personal information being shared and used in constantly changing forms.
The goal of many legal regulations, including the GDPR, is to support informational self-determination – the idea that individuals should understand who knows what about them. For a long time, computer science has translated this idea into technical measures of confidentiality, control and transparency of the data to be released. But instead of following privacy- and security-by-design principles websites nowadays try to trick users into accepting insecure and privacy invasive scripts. Overwhelmed by too many choices or left with none users accept practices that they do not approve. Therefore, it is necessary to think beyond the notice and choice model and develop technical means that support privacy and security that take the complexity of the socio-technical context of users as well as developers into account.
In this talk I will present my research results based on large-scale website scans as well as studies with users and developers showing that the notice and choice model is often contradictory to the goal of protecting privacy and that ideas of the GDPR have not yet led to the expected improvements. I will demonstrate how the focus on increasingly complex technical consent solutions makes it harder to control personal information and how companies at the heart of surveillance capitalism benefit from rules supposed to strengthen privacy. Novel approaches to usable privacy and security need to reconsider privacy as contextual to develop transparency and intervening control option in the data life cycle beyond the disclosure state. To foster the adoption of these technologies future research needs to also focus on the development processes and understand developers as users of privacy enhancing technologies.
Sustainable Comupting Lecture Series
Chairs:
Soheil Human, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien)
Arianna Rossi, SnT, University of Luxembourg
Cristiana Teixeira Santos, Utrecht University
Martin Degeling, Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB)

Soheil Human & Ryan Watkins: Needs-aware Artificial Intelligence — AI that 'serves [human] needs'
2022-02-02 16:00 - 17:30 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Title: Needs-aware Artificial Intelligence — AI that ‘serves [human] needs’
Speakers: Soheil Human (Vienna University of Economics and Business) Ryan Watkins (George Washington University)
Short bios:
Soheil Human is the director of the Sustainable Computing Lab at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He is also a lecturer at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Vienna. He has been leading several interdisciplinary research projects on Sustainability, Human-centricity, Accountability, Lawfulness, and Ethicality of Socio-technical Systems. In his research, he combines concepts and methodologies from various fields such as Cognitive Science, Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence, and STS/HPS.

Ryan Watkins is a Professor at the George Washington University in Washington DC. He teaches in the Educational Technology Leadership (MA) program, and the interdisciplinary Human-Technology Collaboration (PhD) program. He is an author of 11 books and over 100 articles and chapters, on topics including needs assessments, program evaluation, and educational technologies. He is co-host of the Parsing Science podcast, and developer of the We Share Science and SciencePods web apps.
Abstract:Throughout their history, Homo sapiens have used technologies to better satisfy their needs. The relation between needs and technology is so fundamental that the US National Research Council defined the distinguishing characteristic of technology as its goal “to make modifications in the world to meet human needs”. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most promising emerging technologies of our time. Similar to other technologies, AI is expected “to meet [human] needs”. In this talk, which is based on one of our upcoming articles, we reflect on the relationship between needs and AI, and call for the realisation of needs-aware AI systems. We argue that re-thinking needs for, through, and by AI can be a very useful means towards the development of realistic approaches for Sustainable, Human-centric, Accountable, Lawful, and Ethical (HALE) AI systems. We discuss some of the most critical gaps, barriers, enablers, and drivers of co-creating future AI-based socio-technical systems in which [human] needs are well considered and met. Finally, we provide an overview of potential threats and HALE considerations that should be carefully taken into account, and call for joint, immediate, and interdisciplinary efforts and collaborations.

Sustainable Comupting Lecture Series
Chairs: Soheil Human, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) Arianna Rossi, SnT, University of LuxembourgCristiana Santos, Utrecht UniversityMartin Degeling, Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB)

Pavel Laskov: Can We Trust AI?
2022-07-21 14:00 - 15:30 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Title:Can We Trust AI?
Thursday, 21.07.2022, 14:00–15:30 CEST
Hybrid Event
Speaker:Prof. Dr. Pavel Laskov (Hilti Chair for Data and Application Security)
Short bio:Pavel Laskov is Full Professor at the University of Liechtenstein and head of the Hilti Chair of Data and Application Security. He received PhD in computer science at the University of Delaware in 2001 and held research and teaching positions at the Fraunhofer Institute FIRST, University of Tuebingen and Huawei European Research Center. His research is focused on the development of techniques for detection and mitigation of security incidents, especially using custom-built AI techniques. As one of the pioneers of research on AI security, Pavel Laskov co-designed the first proof-of-concept attacks against mainstream AI algorithms such as neural networks and Support Vector Machines.
Abstract:“Data is the new oil”. This succinct metaphor fuels an intense scholarly debate about the genuine value of data in modern economy and society. Tremendous recent progress in AI methods and applications of brought up new products, services and capabilities that would have appeared science fiction even a decade ago. As AI is increasingly deployed for security- and safety-critical applications, robustness of learning algorithms to unexpected data perturbations, commonly knowns as “adversarial examples”, becomes a crucial property. In this presentation, I will present the general idea of data-driven attacks against AI and discuss various existing threat models. As an example of a future security-critical application, I will elucidate the role of AI in 5G mobile network infrastructures and present a new threat model recently developed for this use case.
Online:Please contact events [at] sustainablecomputing.eu for a link.
On campus:WU Wien, D2.2.094https://campus.wu.ac.at/?campus=1&q=D2.2.094
More info (requesting a link to the online call): events [at] sustainablecomputing.eu
Sustainable Computing Lecture SeriesChairs: Soheil Human, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) Arianna Rossi, SnT, University of LuxembourgCristiana Santos, Utrecht UniversityMartin Degeling, Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB)

Jaap-Henk Hoepman: Privacy Is Hard And Seven Other Myths
2023-03-20 12:00 - 13:30 | Online Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
Title: Privacy Is Hard And Seven Other Myths
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Jaap-Henk HoepmanRadboud University, Karlstad University, and University of Groningen
We invite our colleagues who are in Vienna to participate in the talk on WU Wien’s campus. If you like to join the lecture online, please contact events [at] sustainablecomputing.eu for a link.
Date/Time: Monday, January 9th, from 10:30 — 12:00
Location:WU’s Executive Academy EA.6.026 AuditoriumMap: https://campus.wu.ac.at/?campus=1&q=EA.6.026Address: EA.6.026 AuditoriumWU Executive Academy, 6th floorVienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien)Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna, Austria
Abstract:In this talk Jaap-Henk Hoepman will discuss some of the mythssurrounding privacy (like “I have nothing to hide” and “We are notcollecting personal data” or “You have zero privacy anyway. Get overit.”). All to show that technological developments have had a tremendousimpact on our privacy, but also can be used to protect our privacy. Hewill talk about the legal protection of privacy through the General DataProtection Regulation (GDPR), and discuss how relying on purely legalmeasures is not enough. The systems themselves should be designed in aprivacy friendly manner, through privacy by design. He will explain theprivacy by design philosophy, and make it concrete by describing eightprivacy design strategies.
Bio:Jaap-Henk Hoepman is an associate professor in IT Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen, an associate professor at the Dept. of Computer Science of Radboud University, and a guest guest professor in PRISEC – Privacy And Security at the Karlstad University. He studied computer science at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and obtained his PhD at the University of Amsterdam based on work done at the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI). His research interests focus on privacy by design and privacy-friendly protocols for identity management and the Internet of Things.
Onnline:Please contact events [at] sustainablecomputing.eu for a link.
On campus:WU Wien, D2.2.094https://campus.wu.ac.at/?campus=1&q=D2.2.094
More info (requesting a link to the online call): events [at] sustainablecomputing.eu
Sustainable Computing Lecture SeriesChairs: Soheil Human, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) Arianna Rossi, SnT, University of LuxembourgCristiana Santos, Utrecht UniversityMartin Degeling, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung

Sarah Spiekermann and Niina Zuber: Value-based Engineering and Ethical Agile Software Development
2023-05-04 15:00 - 17:00 | Hybrid Event, To receive the online event link, please send an email to, events[@]sustainablecomputing.eu
This is a hybrid event that will include two talks:
Talk 1 by Niina Zuber (Bavarian Institute for Digital Transformation) [15:00 – 15:45]Title: Ethics in Agile Software Development
Abstract – Recent advances in the development and application of software systems are triggering a wide-ranging ethical discourse. Among the much discussed topics are bias, data security, privacy, and the low explainability of algorithms. However, ethical concerns must also be considered in the context of software development in general. Enriching the software development process with ethical deliberation promises to be beneficial and purposeful.
The ethical Deliberation proves thereby as triad:
1. as an identification of values, norms and rules, which is systematically carried out in a disclosive ethics.2. as a process of consideration that leads to a justified prioritization.3. as an implementation of values, norms and rules in technical settings.
Ethical deliberation will assist developers to systematically address ethical issues related to specific IT concerns. The implementation of ethical deliberation in agile development practice seems particularly constructive, as agile processes are a widespread standard in software development and provide a favorable basis for ethical deliberation in the development process due to the empowerment of the individual through flat hierarchies or functioning team structures.
Bio:Dr. Niina Zuber is a scientific officer in the research department at bidt. The ethicist was a research consultant at Cognostics AG (start-up in the field of software development). She focuses on the topics of application-oriented rationality theory, ethical software design, and normative conceptualization of platforms for digital citizen participation. Before joining bidt, she worked for many years at LMU Munich and at the Center for Digitalization Bavaria (ZD.B).
Talk 2 by Sarah Spiekermann (WU Wien) [15:45 – 16:30]Title: Value-based Engineering (VBE) with IEEE 7000: The New Ethical Model Process for Value-based System Design
Abstract – This talk is going to give the audience an overview of the new ISO/IEEE 24 748-7000 standard, which is the world’s first standardized approach to build ‘ethical machines’. The talk will summarize the 10 principles of VBE and the 3 phases of system development necessary to build a new IT system in a transparent way, informed by moral philosophy, discourse ethics and risk logic. For more information on Value-bade Engineering, see here: https://www.wu.ac.at/value-based-engineering/
Bio:Since 2009 Sarah Spiekermann is chairing the Institute for Information Systems & Society at Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna). She is a well-regarded scientist, author, speaker and advisor on digital ethics. She published several books, including “Value-based Engineering – A guide to building ethical technology for humanity” (DeGruyter, 2023), “Digital Ethics – A Value System for the 21st Century” (Droemer, 2019) and “Ethical IT Innovation: A Value-based System Design Approach” (Taylor & Francis, 2015), as well as over 100 articles in leading academic journals such as “Communications of the ACM”, JIT, “IEEE Transactions” or “Science, Technology and Values”. In 2016 Sarah co-founded the “Sustainable Computing Lab”. In the same year she also started vice-chairing IEEE’s “P7000” project, leading the development of the first model process for ethical system design (or what is called “VBE – Value-based Engineering”) published in 2021 (also referenced as ISO/IEC/IEEE 24 748-7000).
Collective discussions and networking [16:30 – 17:00]
Location: WU Wien, TC.5.01 Auditorium, Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Wien
[You can also participate online via Zoom – contact “events [@] sustainablecomputing.eu” for the link]
Map: https://campus.wu.ac.at/?campus=1&q=TC.5.01
