Edward Felten facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edward William Felten
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Official portrait with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board in 2019
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| Born | March 25, 1963 |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology (BS) University of Washington (MS, PhD) |
| Known for | Secure Digital Music Initiative |
| Awards | EFF Pioneer Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science; Public affairs |
| Institutions | Princeton University Federal Trade Commission |
| Thesis | Protocol compilation: High-performance communication for parallel programs (1993) |
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Edward William Felten (born March 25, 1963) is an American computer scientist. He is known for his work in computer security and technology policy. He taught at Princeton University for many years.
Felten also worked for the United States government. He was the chief technologist for the Federal Trade Commission. Later, he became the deputy chief technology officer for the entire country. He has done important research on how to keep computers and information safe.
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About Edward Felten's Life
Edward Felten went to the California Institute of Technology. He earned a degree in physics in 1985. After that, he worked on a special supercomputer project.
He then studied computer science at the University of Washington. He earned his master's degree in 1991. In 1993, he received his Ph.D. His research was about how computers talk to each other very quickly.
Teaching at Princeton University
In 1993, Felten joined Princeton University as a professor. He taught computer science. He later became a full professor in 2003.
He also joined the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. This school focuses on public policy. From 2007 to 2019, he led the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton. This center studies how technology affects society.
Working for the Government
In 2010, Felten became the Chief Technologist for the Federal Trade Commission. This government agency protects consumers. He advised them on technology issues.
In 2015, he was named Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer. He worked for The White House. In this role, he helped guide technology policy for the country. He retired from Princeton University in 2021.
Awards and Recognition
Felten has received many honors for his work. In 2007, he became a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. This is a big honor in computer science.
In 2013, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. This recognized his important work in computer security. It also honored his impact on public policy.
Edward Felten and the Microsoft Case
Edward Felten was a witness in a big court case. It was called United States v. Microsoft. The government said that Microsoft, a software company, was doing things that were unfair.
Microsoft said that its Internet Explorer web browser could not be removed from Windows 98 computers. They claimed it would break the computer.
Felten's Testimony
Felten showed the court that this was not true. He and his students created a tool. This tool could remove Internet Explorer features without harming Windows. He demonstrated how his tool worked in court. It showed 19 ways to stop accessing the web browser.
Microsoft argued that Felten's tool didn't truly remove the browser. They said it only hid its functions. This led to a debate about what a "web browser" actually is. Many parts of Internet Explorer are shared with other programs.
Microsoft also said that Felten's tool didn't completely stop web browsing. They pointed out that users could still access the web through other Windows programs.
The SDMI Music Challenge
In 2000, a group called SDMI (Secure Digital Music Initiative) held a contest. They wanted to protect digital music from being copied easily. They invited experts to try and break their hidden "watermarks" in music files.
A watermark is like a secret code hidden in the music. If someone could remove the watermark, they would win.
Felten's Success in the Challenge
Edward Felten and his team joined the contest. They chose not to sign a secrecy agreement. This meant they couldn't win the cash prize. But it allowed them to share their findings.
Even with little information and only three weeks, Felten's team succeeded. They changed the music files enough that SDMI's system said the watermark was gone.
SDMI, however, disagreed. They said Felten's team didn't meet all the rules. They claimed the music also had to keep its sound quality. They argued that simply ruining the sound would remove the watermark but not meet the quality rule.
Sony CD Copy Protection Problem
In 2005, a big problem happened with Sony music CDs. A security expert found that some Sony CDs installed hidden software. This software was called "XCP" copy protection.
This hidden software could damage computers. It could also install spyware and make computers vulnerable to attacks. This happened when someone played the CD on a Windows computer.
Felten's Discovery of a New Flaw
Sony later released a way to remove this XCP software. But Edward Felten and another researcher, J. Alex Halderman, found a new problem. They showed that Sony's removal tool made computers even more vulnerable.
The tool installed a type of hidden program called a rootkit. This rootkit allowed any website a user visited to run secret code on their computer.
Felten and Halderman explained how serious this was. They said, "Any Web page can seize control of your computer; then it can do anything it likes. That's about as serious as a security flaw can get." This meant people's computers were at great risk.
