It is becoming increasingly hard for users to use the internet without giving up their privacy -- almost all online interactions involve personal data collection. Users do not have any other option but to trust online services that they will respect their privacy. Unfortunately, protecting user privacy does not align well with the business model of online services, who often use data for undisclosed purposes and trade it with other services on the internet to make revenue.

In this talk, I will first highlight the routine data collection and its impacts on users. I will then discuss my research that aims to empower users by surfacing and restricting privacy-invasive data processing practices of online services. Towards the end, I will conclude with a discussion of my future research vision to bring accountability to the internet.

It is becoming increasingly hard for users to use the internet without giving up their privacy -- almost all online interactions involve personal data collection. Users do not have any other option but to trust online services that they will respect their privacy. Unfortunately, protecting user privacy does not align well with the business model of online services, who often use data for undisclosed purposes and trade it with other services on the internet to make revenue.

In this talk, I will first highlight the routine data collection and its impacts on users. I will then discuss my research that aims to empower users by surfacing and restricting privacy-invasive data processing practices of online services. Towards the end, I will conclude with a discussion of my future research vision to bring accountability to the internet.