text in blue font that says 'Lucy Qin'

I'm an applied cryptographer and usable security/privacy researcher.

I’m currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in computer science at Georgetown University where I work closely with Elissa Redmiles. I'm also a Fritz Fellow within Georgetown's Initiative for Technology and Society. Last December, I completed my PhD in computer science with a focus on applied cryptography at Brown University where I was advised by Seny Kamara.

Lately, my research centers more on projects addressing image-based sexual abuse. I also co-organize the Re-Imagining Cryptography and Privacy (ReCAP) Workshop, alongside Alishah Chator and Leah Namisa Rosenbloom.

I'm happy to connect and talk about research. Feel free to send me an email (my signal username is also available upon request).

email | google scholar | twitter

text in blue font that says 'research'

* Names listed alphabetically.
Additional publications available here.

"Did They F***ing Consent to That?": Safer Digital Intimacy via Proactive Protection Against Image-Based Sexual Abuse.
Lucy Qin, Vaughn Hamilton, Sharon Wang, Yigit Aydinalp, Marin Scarlett, Elissa M. Redmiles
USENIX Security 2024

Secure Account Recovery for a Privacy-Preserving Web Service.
Ryan Little, Lucy Qin, Mayank Varia
USENIX Security 2024

Synq: Public Policy Analytics over Encrypted Data.
Zachary Espiritu, Marilyn George, Seny Kamara, Lucy Qin*
IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy 2024

You Still See Me: Data Protection Supports the Architecture of ML Surveillance.
Rui-Jie Yew, Lucy Qin, Suresh Venkatasubramanian
NeurIPS Workshop on Regulatable ML 2023
To Appear at the AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society (AIES) 2024

Attached to “The Algorithm”: Making Sense of Algorithmic Precarity on Instagram.
Yim Register, Lucy Qin, Amanda Baughan, Emma S. Spiro
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2023

A Decentralized and Encrypted National Gun Registry. [Wired, Conference Video, Seminar Video]
Seny Kamara, Tarik Moataz, Andrew Park, Lucy Qin*
IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy 2021

From Usability to Secure Computing and Back Again. [Video, Slides]
Lucy Qin, Andrei Lapets, Frederick Jansen, Peter Flockhart, Kinan Dak Albab, Ira Globus-Harris, Shannon Roberts, Mayank Varia.
USENIX Symposium on Usable Security and Privacy (SOUPS) 2019

Callisto: A Cryptographic Approach to Detecting Serial Perpetrators of Sexual Misconduct.
Anjana Rajan, Lucy Qin, David W. Archer, Dan Boneh, Tancrède Lepoint, Mayank Varia.
ACM SIGCAS Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies (COMPASS) 2018

Accessible Privacy-Preserving Web-Based Data Analysis for Assessing and Addressing Economic Inequalities.
Andrei Lapets, Frederick Jansen, Kinan Dak Albab, Rawane Issa, Lucy Qin, Mayank Varia, Azer Bestavros
ACM SIGCAS Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies (COMPASS) 2018

text in blue font that says 'reports'

Toward Safer Intimate Futures: Recommendations for Tech Platforms to Reduce Image Based Sexual Abuse
Lucy Qin, Vaughn Hamilton, Yigit Aydinalp, Marin Scarlett, Sharon Wang, Elissa M. Redmiles
European Sex Workers Rights Alliance Report. 2023.

Outside Looking In: Approaches to Content Moderation in End-to-End Encrypted Systems.
Seny Kamara, Mallory Knodel, Emma Llansó, Greg Nojeim, Lucy Qin*, Dhanaraj Thakur, Caitlin Vogus
Center for Democracy and Technology Report. 2021.


text in blue font that says 'teaching'

CSCI 1952V: Algorithms for the People
Co-Instructor. Brown Computer Science. Fall 2021.

Hiding in Plain Sight: An Introduction to the Art of Cryptography
Instructor. Brown Pre-College. Summer 2021 & 2022.