Simson Garfinkel
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simson.net
Simson Garfinkel
@simson.net
89 followers 20 following 46 posts
Dr. Simson Garfinkel researches and writes at the intersection of AI, privacy, and digital forensics. He is a fellow of the AAAS, the ACM and the IEEE. He earned his PhD in Computer Science at MIT and a Master of Science in Journalism at Columbia.
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simson.net
My first publication in Science!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Platforms of power
A legal scholar pushes for net neutrality and other actions to rein in tech monopolies
www.science.org
November 7, 2025 at 2:44 AM
simson.net
ACM published my TechBrief on digital transformation. Here is the press release in the @aaas.org EurekaAlert!

New report urges governments around the world to achieve “Digital Transformation”

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

And here is the tech brief:
dl.acm.org/doi/book/10....
New report urges governments around the world to achieve “Digital Transformation”
The Association for Computing Machinery’s global Technology Policy Council has released “TechBrief: Government Digital Transformation.” It is the latest in a series of TechBriefs&mda...
www.eurekalert.org
October 24, 2025 at 5:52 AM
simson.net
Sara is spilling the beans about Sascha!

substack.com/@saraabramss...
To talk about Alexander Henry Strathmore’s early life is to give him a bit more biographical credit than he deserves.
To talk about Alexander Henry Strathmore’s early life is to give him a bit more biographical credit than he deserves.
substack.com
October 4, 2025 at 9:46 PM
simson.net
In case you missed it, I wrote a fun review of "Our Dollar, Your Problem." You can find it on my new substack page:

open.substack.com/pub/database...
“Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead”, by Kenneth Rogoff
What I'm reading, and why I'm recommending it to others.
open.substack.com
September 29, 2025 at 10:05 PM
simson.net
I just finished Our Dollar, Your Problem and I am recommending it to all my friends. open.substack.com/pub/database...
“Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead”, by Kenneth Rogoff
What I'm reading, and why I'm recommending it to others.
open.substack.com
September 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
simson.net
Just published! How we reconstructed the individual-level records from the 2010 Census tables for tens of millions of people and reidentified millions using only commercially available data. hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/ntchx9im
A Simulated Reconstruction and Reidentification Attack on the 2010 U.S. Census
Forthcoming. Now Available: Just Accepted Version.
hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu
July 22, 2025 at 1:34 AM
simson.net
My experience vibe coding, with citations and recommendations for making it safer. databasenation.substack.com/p/vibe-codin...
July 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
simson.net
@bilawal.bsky.social has put together a 30-minute documentary on the history of Google Earth. Highly recommended. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMl...
How Google Accidentally Built a Time Machine
YouTube video by Bilawal Sidhu
www.youtube.com
July 12, 2025 at 9:32 PM
simson.net
Just finished @hossenfelder.bsky.social's book, Lost in Math. I highly recommend for the author's lively writing style, and her key points are even more valid today then when the book was published in 2018.

amzn.to/4kuVdmt
Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray
Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ...
amzn.to
July 6, 2025 at 11:46 AM
simson.net
@benrothke.bsky.social has written a lovely review of #DifferentialPrivacy for his "book of the month" column at the RSAC Conference website. He notes that the book is available as an open source download from @mitpress.bsky.social .

www.rsaconference.com/library/blog...
Ben's Book of the Month: Differential Privacy
www.rsaconference.com
May 7, 2025 at 2:54 PM
simson.net
Has anyone noticed that ChatGPT as made Ted Rall a non-person? It simply will not answer any questions about Ted Rall.

Someone should write about this.

@tedrall.bsky.social
April 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Simson Garfinkel
xkcd.com
Anchor Bolts xkcd.com/3078
April 19, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Reposted by Simson Garfinkel
simson.net
I'm talking about #differentialPrivacy on the SecureTalk podcast by @StrikeGraph.

Website: www.securetalkpodcast.com
Youtube: youtu.be/eZFgxKsFvYg?...
Apple Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4o9h...
SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/user-7796943...
March 26, 2025 at 5:23 PM
simson.net
I stopped by the @mitofficial.bsky.social bookstore to sign some @mitpress.bsky.social books on #DiffeeentialPrivacy
April 16, 2025 at 2:23 PM
simson.net
#DifferentialPrivacy made the top position of @techreview's "Recent books from the MIT community" in the March/April edition.

www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/25/1...
Recent books from the MIT community
March/April 2025
www.technologyreview.com
March 29, 2025 at 9:05 PM
simson.net
I'm talking about #differentialPrivacy on the SecureTalk podcast by @StrikeGraph.

Website: www.securetalkpodcast.com
Youtube: youtu.be/eZFgxKsFvYg?...
Apple Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4o9h...
SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/user-7796943...
March 26, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Simson Garfinkel
mitpress.bsky.social
Simson Garfinkel's addition to our Essential Knowledge Series, "Differential Privacy," is a robust yet accessible introduction to the idea, history, and key applications of differential privacy—the gold standard of algorithmic privacy protection: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255165... @simson.net
A hand holding a copy of "Differential Privacy." The features an illustration of an equation.
March 25, 2025 at 5:51 PM
simson.net
Differential Privacy (2026) my new book, is published by MIT Press today!!!! The soft cover and kindle versions are available now. The open access PDF should be available shortly!!!

mitdpbook.com

Amazon sent me this lovely email today.
March 25, 2025 at 11:27 AM
simson.net
My article MIT Prepares for Nuclear Attack was published in @technologyreview.com ! www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/25/1...
MIT prepares for nuclear attack
In the early 1960s, the Institute grappled with going beyond “Duck and Cover.”
www.technologyreview.com
March 5, 2025 at 11:15 PM
simson.net
The OpenDP project has published a Q&A with me on the occasion of the #DifferentialPrivacy book, which is launching on March 25: opendp.org/blog/qa-sims...
Q&A with Simson Garfinkel, author of upcoming book Differential Privacy
We are excited to spotlight the work of Simson Garfinkel and announce his upcoming book, Differential Privacy! Simson researches and writes at the intersection of AI, privacy, and digital forensics. H...
opendp.org
February 26, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Simson Garfinkel
ccanonne.github.io
Simson Garfinkel's (high-level) intro to Differential Privacy (DP) book will be published in March at MIT Press.

A well-written, insightful, and engaging non-technical intro to DP, with discussions, motivations, and historical context. Highly recommended!
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255165...
Differential Privacy
A robust yet accessible introduction to the idea, history, and key applications of differential privacy—the gold standard of algorithmic privacy protection...
mitpress.mit.edu
January 10, 2025 at 6:17 PM
simson.net
Why is the @npr.org app using so much data?

T
January 16, 2025 at 2:57 AM
simson.net
Apple Mail & Gmail Users: Are you tired of seeing thousands of autosave messages in your Gmail archives? I have written a program to delete them! Find it here; knowledge of python required. If there is interest, I can package this with a UI for the Apple App Store.

github.com/simsong/remo...
GitHub - simsong/remove_apple_autosave: de-duplicate multiple drafts in gmail
de-duplicate multiple drafts in gmail. Contribute to simsong/remove_apple_autosave development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
January 14, 2025 at 2:02 PM
simson.net
@sleuthkitlabs.bsky.social's development branch of TSK now supports XFS. Thanks to everyone who helped. github.com/sleuthkit/sl...
XFS Implementation by eyalgolan1337 · Pull Request #3118 · sleuthkit/sleuthkit
this branch is based on #1461. I added a test so we can merge the xfs implementation
github.com
January 14, 2025 at 1:48 PM
simson.net
We can simultaneously end the journalism crisis and provide AI with fresh training data.
bit.ly/40lWVyG
Database Nation | LinkedIn
Simson Garfinkel | Data, ethics and AI
bit.ly
January 14, 2025 at 1:09 AM