Third-party applications in Online Social Networks (OSNs), such as Facebook, are growing in popularity. This project would examine APIs of OSNs that allow applications and compare what user information can and needs to be acquired by applications for these OSNs. The project would include construction of applications for investigation and testing.
Suggested Background: Familiarity with Webware and Networking.
This area has many potential directions centered around better understanding network application performance and learning more about what users are interested in. One direction is to explore active measurement of Internet activity through Javascript extensions to a browser. Another direction is to analyze the performance of applications through passively collected flow data. Another might involve the design of a game to measure network performance.
Suggested Background: Familiarity with Webware, Networking and Operating Systems.
This project looks to explore the use and accuracy of Geo-IP services that map IP addresses to geographic locations. We would examine for both traditional browsers as well as for smart phone devices. Another direction to explore is what users can do to protect their location beyond using a proxy.
Suggested Background: Familiarity with Webware, Networking and Operating Systems.