* Topics on Internet Censorship and Surveillance (TICS) #2: Call for Papers *

Online version: https://tics.site/cfp/

The 2nd TICS will focus on AI-assisted information controls. Collocated with the 18th IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence (https://webintelligence2019.com), October 14, 2019, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Abstract

The ever-increasing demand for online content moderation and user profiling sees the adaptation of web intelligence concepts that were developed in good faith, into a censorship and surveillance apparatus owned by corporations and national agencies. Consequently, users are bound to an Orwellian Internet where mainstream platforms such as search engines, social media, and content providers place the blame for filter bubbles and extensive user behavioral analysis on artificial intelligence. This is alarming, since it is particularly difficult to distinguish between AI bias and deliberate human intervention. TICS aims to explore the technological, socio-economic, and legal means and driving forces behind these issues, and to propose alternative directions for building a semantic and human-centric web that promotes empowerment of individuals to decide on how their identities are or are not constructed and aggregated online. Topics

The goal of TICS is to raise awareness around the implications of network interference, by inviting researchers from complementary disciplines to consider the effect of their own domain on online censorship and surveillance. Along those lines, we invite submissions that address the following topics:

- Research on technologies and policies that build upon advancements on the field of web intelligence to imply blocking, limitation or distortion of the availability of network services and online content - The application of web intelligence concepts such as behavioral modeling, data mining, and social network analytics to target groups and individuals by law enforcement agencies and private corporations - The implications of algorithmic and AI-assisted user content classification (such as for identification of hatespeech, copyright, or disinformation) - Novel techniques that leverage web intelligence to defend netizens against censorship and surveillance, or privacy enhancements to the existing AI infrastructure to mitigate these threats - Measurement methodologies that detect network interference or content moderation based on crowd knowledge or web analytics - The socio-economic consequences and implementation limitations and fallacies of upload filters and recommendation systems - Business models and amendments to legal frameworks which promote the use of web intelligence in ways that build a pluralistic, private, and human-centric experience without violating user freedoms

* Important dates *

Paper Submission due: July 19th, 2019 July 10th, 2019 Notification to authors: Aug 15th, 2019 Final, camera ready papers, due: Aug 25th, 2019 Workshop date: Oct 14th, 2019

* Paper Submission *

Paper Submission Page: https://wi-lab.com/cyberchair/2019/wi19/scripts/submit.php?subarea=S04&u...

Submitted papers should be limited to a maximum of 8 pages in the standard ACM 2-column format. The ACM Proceedings Manuscript Formatting Guidelines can be found at: https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template

Program Chairs

Marios Isaakidis, University College London, marios@tics.site Vasilis Ververis, Humboldt University Berlin, vasilis@tics.site Gunnar Wolf, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, gwolf@tics.site

You can contact all of the chairs by addressing your mail to chairs@tics.site. Program Committee

Apostolos Pyrgelis, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Bogdan Kulynych, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Chrystalenni Loizidou, University of Nicosia Gabriele de Seta, Hong Kong Polytechnic University Keith McManamen, Psiphon Inc. Savvas A. Zannettou, Cyprus University of Technology Will Scott, University of Michigan

Cheers, ~Vasilis