Daniel Zappala

@zappala.bsky.social

240 followers 180 following 65 posts

human-centered security research at BYU

Videos

Computer science 80%

Sociology 6%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Jessica Vitak, Daniel Zappala

Serge Egelman @v0max.bsky.social · 8d

Those in California can now go here to request that data brokers delete their data: privacy.ca.gov/drop/

This is a good thing, however, it’s far from a complete solution. 🧵

1/

Delete request and opt-out platform (DROP)

Protect your personal information. Data brokers collect, share, and sell your personal information. You can stop that from happening.

privacy.ca.gov

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · 23d

Very disappointing loss for my team 😢

Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 26d

The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.

Screenshot of a paper entry:
Fictional Failures and Real-World Lessons: Ethical Speculation Through Design Fiction on Emotional Support Conversational AI
Authors: Faye Kollig, Jessica Pater, Fayika Farhat Nova, Casey Fiesler
(There are tabs with "abstract" and "summary" and "summary" is selected.)

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Dec 6

I was struck by how white nationalism is woven throughout this document. It is the motivating ideology behind the strategy’s antipathy toward Europe and the desire to assert dominance in our hemisphere.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Dec 3

I also wonder if there is a realistic way for them to document a research process so we can see that their own work led directly to the written words, though this seems onerous.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Dec 3

I’m pondering a requirement that when they turn in a report, they also turn in a handwritten paragraph that copies out verbatim the AI policy for the class, with a signature attesting they followed it.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Dec 3

I am sad that the tech industry took no thought or care for the havoc they would wreak before unleashing this tool, nor taken any steps to curb academic misconduct.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Nov 27

Very considerate!

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Nov 27

I’m curious what you do with a turkey done that early?

Reposted by Daniel Zappala

Qiaosi (Chelsea) Wang @qiaosiwang.bsky.social · Nov 11

🚀💫 I’m on the job market for academic (tenure-track) and industry research positions!

👋I am a Postdoc Fellow at @hcii.cmu.edu working at the intersection of human-AI interaction, cognitive science, responsible AI, design, and social computing. I earned my PhD from @gtresearch.bsky.social in 2024.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Oct 26

Love to see this. I set up a recurring monthly donation to my food bank.

Michelle Mazurek @mmazurek.bsky.social · Oct 26

Donated in memory of my immigrant grandmothers and their foundational belief that food == love

Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · Oct 26

I just donated to my local food bank. If you can, you should too. People are already suffering but next month, in particular, is going to be so difficult.

Reposted by Daniel Zappala

Michelle Mazurek @mmazurek.bsky.social · Oct 26

Donated in memory of my immigrant grandmothers and their foundational belief that food == love

Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · Oct 26

I just donated to my local food bank. If you can, you should too. People are already suffering but next month, in particular, is going to be so difficult.

Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Daniel Zappala

Margaret Mitchell @mmitchell.bsky.social · Oct 24

Life situations are bleak right now for a lot of people. In tech, the "Venn Diagram" of (1) positive work and (2) making enough money to support your family is increasingly non-overlapping. We all do what we can.
This image has been living in my mind rent-free for months.

Tech Venn Diagram
Two circles, one says "Doing work that contributes beneficially to society."; the other says "Making enough income to support a family."

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Oct 13

Coded with an LLM

(this works for both systems and qualitative researchers)

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · Oct 9

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

Reposted by Elizabeth Stokoe, Alan Richardson, Ben Rosamond , and 5 more Elizabeth Stokoe, Alan Richardson, Ben Rosamond, Marcus Credé, Aviel Roshwald, Nick Fisher, Ezra Golberstein, Daniel Zappala

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · Oct 9

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Oct 8

I was up there this summer and it was gorgeous. Utah is pretty good right now too.

A grove of aspen trees that are turning orange and red during fall

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Oct 6

Curious how you secure your e-bike while running errands

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Sep 10

This paper measured propaganda accounts and was at USENIX Security. Much more of a quantitative approach. But I get 💕 for a good qualitative paper.

www.usenix.org/conference/u...

Characterizing and Detecting Propaganda-Spreading Accounts on Telegram | USENIX

www.usenix.org

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Sep 9

You see significant overlap and PCs in human-centered security among the above and SOUPS. For CHI, the security and privacy subcommittee in particular.

Since it’s participatory maybe CSCW but I’m less familiar with it.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Sep 9

You could make an argument that propaganda campaigns fit under the security umbrella. And USENIX Security has a good set of reviewers that understand and accept qualitative work. Same with IEEE S&P. CCS is a work in progress.

Alternatively maybe CHI, but the registration deadline just passed.

Reposted by Daniel Zappala

Eran Toch @eranto.bsky.social · Sep 4

It will be my second year co-chairing the Privacy and Security subcommittee at #CHI2026, with the awesome Florian Schaub and Emilee Rader. Abstract submission is today, and we are very excited to review the list of papers that you'll send our way...

ACM CHI @chi.acm.org · Sep 4

Reminder🔉 Abstract/metadata deadline is today (Sep 4 AoE)! No new submissions and author changes after the deadline. Make sure metadata is finalized before time runs out!

Reposted by Daniel Zappala

Tina-Desiree Berg @tinadesireeberg.com · Aug 11

I have thoughts. Firstly, Bunch is absolutely right about this. I say this as someone who has worked for corporate media and small media. This is spot on:

That's made street-level journalists like Stern, Buer, and the others who've been assaulted or arrested - freelancers or reporters for small independent sites — more important than ever. They are arguably the truth's last line of defense, keeping tabs on community activism right at the moment when legacy newsrooms are increasingly walking away from that function. They can't be bought, so they are bloodied.

Reposted by Daniel Zappala

HD Moore @hdm.io · Aug 10

Thank you to everyone who made it out for my DEF CON 33 presentation, "Shaking Out Shells With SSHamble", you can find the materials online at hdm.io/decks/MOORE%...

This deck includes some lightly-censored zero-day (more decks @ hdm.io)

A top-level overview of the presentation presented as a grid of thumbnails, showing 42 slides.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Aug 7

Why is it a useful learning activity for a student to correct an AI system? Isn’t this more valuable for those training the AI than for the student? This seems to complicate learning more than to improve it.

Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · Aug 5

"For example, a student could be asked to compare an AI-generated summary of an academic article with the original text, assessing what the AI engine gets right, what it gets wrong, and whether the article’s most important contributions have been recognized." (see next post)

Reposted by Daniel Zappala

Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · Aug 5

Reposted by Daniel Zappala

Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · Aug 4

I don't have words for how infuriating this is data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-mother...

The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine

How a single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.

data4democracy.substack.com

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, David Brady , and 7 more Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, David Brady, Scott L. Greer, Alistair Munro, Caroline Krafft, Kris Inwood, Aaron Sojourner, David J. Berri, Daniel Zappala

John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · Aug 3

Look at what happens to male teacher salaries (blue line) v.s. female teacher salaries (red line) after collective bargaining laws expire.

Reposted by Daniel Zappala

Lesley Carhart @hacks4pancakes.com · Aug 1

I'm in a phenomenal talk on gender inequality in cybersecurity this morrning and this is such a great cheat sheet for intersectional fair employment.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Jul 31

Oh that’s an interesting form of quality control. Are you using a local instance? I would worry that, even if the venue doesn’t prohibit its use, I would be feeding training data to the LLM without the authors’ consent.

Daniel Zappala @zappala.bsky.social · Jul 31

Can you share how you use an LLM to help you with your reviews? Maybe you can convince me that I should try.

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