Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group VIII: Doctoral Students' Council

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group VIII is the files from the Doctoral Students' Council (DSC).

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group VII: CUNY

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group VII is materials about the City University of New York, transferred from the Mina Rees Library and the Provost's Office. Also included in this group are the records of the Research Foundation.

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group VI: Vice-President for Finance and Administration

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group VI is the files of the Vice-Presidents for Finance and Administration.

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group V-D: Presidents' Files: Kelly

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group V-D is the papers of William P. Kelly from when he was president of the GSUC (2005-2013).

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group V-C: Presidents' Files: Horowitz

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group V-C is the papers of Frances Degen Horowitz from when she was president of the GSUC (1991-2005).

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group V-B: Presidents' Files: Proshansky

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group V-B is the papers of Harold M. Proshansky from when he was president of the GSUC (1972-1990).

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group V-A: Presidents' Files: Rees

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group V-A is the papers of Mina S. Rees from when she was president of the GSUC (1969-1972).

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group V: Presidents' Files

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group V explains the record groups in the "Presidents' Files" series.

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group IV: Committee Records

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group t IV is records from various GSUC committees.

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group III: Periodicals

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives. Record Group III is periodicals by and/or about the GSUC.

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group II: Centers and Institutes

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives, City University of New York. Record Group II is material collected from research centers and institutes at the GSUC.

Graduate School and University Center Archives Finding Aid - Record Group I: Subjects

This is part of the finding aid to the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC) Archives, City University of New York. Record Group I lists the subjects covered in the collection.

New York Trade School Graduates David J. Stevens and Ernest Fitzgerald

David J. Stevens and Ernest Fitzgerald were 1948 graduates of the Plumbing Department at the New York Trade School and are pictured with a truck from their successful D.H. Stevens Company in Washington, DC. Original caption reads, "David J. Stevens - Plumbing 1948, is shown here with Ernest Fitzgerald - Plumbing 1948, with two of their thirteen pieces of equipment necessary to satisfy 650 calls per month. David Stevens is the third generation to have graduated from Plumbing." Black and white photograph with caption adhered to reverse.

Obfuscation and Strict Online Anonymity

I consider the case for genuinely anonymous web searching. Big data seems to have it in for privacy. The story is well known, particularly since the dawn of the web. Vastly more personal information, monumental and quotidian, is gathered than in the pre-digital days. Once gathered it can be aggregated and analyzed to produce rich portraits, which in turn permit unnerving prediction of our future behavior. The new information can then be shared widely, limiting prospects and threatening autonomy. How should we respond? Following Nissenbaum (2011) and Brunton and Nissenbaum (2011 and 2013), I will argue that the proposed solutions—consent, anonymity as conventionally practiced, corporate best practices, and law—fail to protect us against routine surveillance of our online behavior. Brunton and Nissenbaum rightly maintain that, given the power imbalance between data holders and data subjects, obfuscation of one’s online activities is justified. Obfuscation works by generating “misleading, false, or ambiguous data with the intention of confusing an adversary or simply adding to the time or cost of separating good data from bad,” thus decreasing the value of the data collected (Brunton and Nissenbaum, 2011). The phenomenon is as old as the hills. Natural selection evidently blundered upon the tactic long ago. Take a savory butterfly whose markings mimic those of a toxic cousin. From the point of view of a would-be predator the data conveyed by the pattern is ambiguous. Is the bug lunch or potential last meal? In the light of the steep costs of a mistake, the savvy predator goes hungry. Online obfuscation works similarly, attempting for instance to disguise the surfer’s identity (Tor) or the nature of her queries (Howe and Nissenbaum 2009). Yet online obfuscation comes with significant social costs. First, it implies free riding. If I’ve installed an effective obfuscating program, I’m enjoying the benefits of an apparently free internet without paying the costs of surveillance, which are shifted entirely onto non-obfuscators. Second, it permits sketchy actors, from child pornographers to fraudsters, to operate with near impunity. Third, online merchants could plausibly claim that, when we shop online, surveillance is the price we pay for convenience. If we don’t like it, we should take our business to the local brick-and-mortar and pay with cash. Brunton and Nissenbaum have not fully addressed the last two costs. Nevertheless, I think the strict defender of online anonymity can meet these objections. Regarding the third, the future doesn’t bode well for offline shopping. Consider music and books. Intrepid shoppers can still find most of what they want in a book or record store. Soon, though, this will probably not be the case. And then there are those who, for perfectly good reasons, are sensitive about doing some of their shopping in person, perhaps because of their weight or sexual tastes. I argue that consumers should not have to pay the price of surveillance every time they want to buy that catchy new hit, that New York Times bestseller, or a sex toy.