Columbia Privacy Lab - Incite at Columbia University

Completed Project

Columbia Privacy Lab

  • Team
    • Kimberly Springer Principal Investigator
    • Nkima Stephenson Fellow
    • Elizabeth Li Fellow
  • Funding Board of Trustees of the American Assembly
  • Timeframe 2021–2023

The Columbia Privacy Lab was an initaitve designed to conduct research, providing instruction, and develop privacy-minded tools for the university and surrounding community.

Lab fellow Nkima Stephenson researched and developed action items related to a project examining the kinds of data New York City requires to apply for housing and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Research questions included:

  1. What questions are asked when one applies for sustenance benefits in NYC?
  2. Why are these particular questions asked?
  3. Who determines the necessity of the questions? Which questions are necessary for providing food stamps?
  4. How is this information used?
  5. What value does this information have to the State?

A second research project completed by Elizabeth Li examined data leakage via dating app users in the name of safety and security.

Related Works

  • open website

    Elizabeth Li, "Screenshot, share, and save: An exploration into dating app profile-sharing behaviors", Medium, September 7, 2023

  • open website

    Nkima Stephenson, Kimberly Springer, "Columbia Privacy Lab & Public Assistance Benefits", Columbia Academic Commons, February 23, 2023

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