Cryptography for societal benefit

The deployment of cryptography in society has a range of effects that are not always evident when studying cryptography as a technological construct in isolation. This observation suggests a number of natural research directions that examine cryptography as an instrument of societal influence; that is, as a technological construct in conjunction with its societal effects. This thesis presents the results of six papers spanning the three broad contexts listed next. - Institutional accountability Cryptography can enhance transparency and accountability of institutions seeking public trust, such as governmental agencies, judicial systems, and election infrastructure. - Individual empowerment in oppressive environments Cryptography can empower individuals to communicate securely and undetectably and to preserve their anonymity, even in hostile environments. - Incentivizing collaboration Cryptography can facilitate collaboration between rational -- possibly selfish and/or competing -- parties in a way that is beneficial to all participants, by providing credible guarantees of secrecy and correct protocol execution to mutually distrustful parties.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Park, Sunoo

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Shafi Goldwasser.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118099

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/118099