Markdown Version | Session Recording

Session Date/Time: 28 Jul 2023 16:30

pearg

Summary

The Privacy Enhancements and Assessments Research Group (pearg) meeting at IETF 117 covered several topics related to privacy on the Internet. Discussions included updates on RFCs published by the group, guidelines for safe internet measurements, data privacy in language models, browser privacy testing, and an analysis of proposed French laws and their impact on internet infrastructure.

Key Discussion Points

• RFC Status: Updates were provided on recently published RFCs and a draft in the RFC editor queue.
• Safe Internet Measurement Guidelines: Mallory Knodel requested reviews for the draft on safe internet measurement, highlighting its adaptation of Tor safety guidelines for the IETF environment. Potential review venues such as MapRG and PPM were suggested.
• Data Privacy in Language Models: Reza presented on the challenges of data privacy in language models, including indirect privacy risks, membership inference attacks, and methods for quantifying leakage. There was discussion about the hypothetical adversary and the relevance of membership inference attacks for measuring privacy leakage. Discussion around what constitutes personal data.
• Browser Privacy Testing: Arthur Edelstein presented privacytest.org, a project for detecting and monitoring privacy leaks in web browsers. The discussion highlighted state partitioning, IP address tracking, HTTPS usage, fingerprinting, tracking query parameters, tracker blocking, and cross-session tracking. Browser privacy improvements made recently.
• French Law Analysis: Mattie informed the group about proposed French laws (Military Planning Law and Digital Bill) with potential implications for DNS providers and browsers. This generated discussion about blocking domains without a court order, age verification, and the need for global advocacy related to internet policy.

Decisions and Action Items

• Action Item: Mallory Knodel to reach out to MapRG and PPM regarding reviews of the safe internet measurement draft.
• Decision: Next Steps on proposed French Law will be re-evaluated as events transpire.

Next Steps

• Continue reviews of the "Guidelines for Performing Safe Measurement on the Internet" draft.
• Further investigation of cost of browser privacy.
• Follow up on chat discussion about presented topics.