University of Leuven becomes unexpected battleground in fight between privacy and surveillance LEUVEN, Belgium — A 600-year-old Catholic university here has become an unexpected battleground in the fight between privacy advocates and those who think governments and law enforcement need more powerful online surveillance.Tucked in the woods outside this medieval town in Dutch-speaking Flanders, the electrical-engineering department of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is home to the Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography group. Led by Bart Preneel, a cryptography professor and outspoken privacy stalwart, the group has grown over the last 15 years into one of the world’s top research centres for digital encryption.Mr Preneel is considered a hero by privacy advocates who see encryption as a way of keeping out the prying eye of governments and police. His centre is hardly a household name in Silicon Valley circles, but it is widely regarded as one of the world’s best at coming up wit...
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