Read the article(s): “Communication with Incarcerated People” and “Electronic Monitoring

Smartphone Apps” (The tasks should based on both of those articles)

1. List 3 takeaways from the paper that are most interesting to you.

• bullet point #1

• bullet point #2

• bullet point #3

2. List 3 strengths points from the paper.

• bullet point #1

• bullet point #2

• bullet point #3

3. List 3 weaknesses points from the paper.

• bullet point #1

• bullet point #2

• bullet point #3

4. Write other 2 short paragraphs about two different and specific points from the article and talk

about your own thoughts. You will be expected to expand a little bit on these thoughts.

Bullet points are good enough for the questions above.

Each point should have complete sentences (1 sentences for each one should be the most, no

more than 1). You should have a clear point and be specific. All those bullet points (All the

points above cannot be very general or talk about the writing skills)

Also, you should connect this paper with some other materials outside the paper (e.g. news,

other research, personal experience). And cite them. (one from other material is enough)

Also, If you use some sentence(s) from other resources, you must cite them.

Important:

You cannot make unsubstantiated claims. As scientists, it is important for us to be clear about

whether what we are saying is:

• a personal opinion

• our understanding without back up, or researched fact

In the latter case, one should back up that argument with appropriate references such as peer-

reviewed research articles or white papers, or news articles from reputable sources. In your

written submissions, you can either hyperlink or put a short reference at the bottom.

The info below may help understanding those two articles.

Abstract: Courts have ruled that incarcerated people have a diminished right to privacy. But

what does that mean for people who are not incarcerated who are also caught up in the ever-

widening net of surveillance? In this talk I will discuss prior work on how carceral surveillance

impacts two communities: families members of incarcerated people and people under

community supervision (e.g., release from immigrant detention, probation, parole).

Surveillance of communication between incarcerated and non-incarcerated people has steadily

increased, enabled partly by technological advancements. Third-party vendors control

communication tools for most U.S. prisons and jails and offer surveillance capabilities beyond

what individual facilities could realistically implement. Frequent communication with family

improves mental health and post-carceral outcomes for incarcerated people, but does discomfort

about surveillance affect how their relatives communicate with them? To explore this question

and others we conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with participants who have incarcerated

relatives. Among other findings, we learned that participants communicate despite privacy

concerns that they felt helpless to address. We also observed inaccuracies in participants’ beliefs

about surveillance practices. We discussed implications of inaccurate understandings of

surveillance, misaligned incentives between end-users and vendors, how our findings enhanced

ongoing conversations about carceral justice, and recommendations for more privacy-sensitive

communication tools.

In a subsequent project I focused on the rise in the use of smartphone applications (apps) to

monitor people under community supervision. Electronic monitoring is the use of technology to

track individuals accused or convicted of a crime (or civil violation) as an "alternative to

incarceration." Traditionally, this technology has been in the form of ankle monitors, but recently

federal, state, and local entities around the U.S. are shifting to using smartphone applications for

electronic monitoring. These apps purport to make the monitoring simpler and more convenient

for both the community supervisor and the person being monitored. However, due to the

multipurpose nature of smartphones in people's lives and the amount of sensitive information

(e.g., sensor data) smartphones make available, this introduces new risks to people coerced to use

these apps.

To understand what type of privacy-related and other risks might be introduced to people who

use these applications, we conducted a privacy-oriented analysis of 16 Android apps used for

electronic monitoring. We analyzed the apps first technically, with static and (limited) dynamic

analysis techniques. We also analyzed user reviews in the Google Play Store to understand the

experiences of the people using these apps, and also the privacy policies. We found that the apps

contain numerous trackers, the permissions requested by them vary widely (with the most

common one being location), and the reviews indicate that people find the apps invasive and

frequently dysfunctional. We ended our paper by encouraging mobile app marketplaces to

reconsider their role in the future of electronic monitoring apps, and computer security and

privacy researchers to consider their potential role in auditing carceral technologies. We hope

that this work will lead to more transparency in this obfuscated ecosystem.

Bio: Kentrell Owens is a PhD student in the Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at

the University of Washington and a member of the Security and Privacy Research Lab. He is co-

advised by Franziska Roesner and Tadayoshi Kohno. He is specifically interested in the

computer security and privacy needs of underserved communities. He has recently published

work on web authentication, the surveillance of the communication of incarcerated people and

their families, and the risks of using smartphone applications for electronic monitoring

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