Projects Publications Talks Teaching Vita Contact

Christian Grothoff <christian@grothoff.org>

Professor at Bern University of Applied Sciences

Room N.474
Höheweg 80
CH-2501 Biel/Bienne
Switzerland
GPG Fingerprint: D842 3BCB 326C 7907 0339 29C7 939E 6BE1 E29F C3CC

 Christian Grothoff
 
Courses at BFH BTI 1021 CS Basics, 2019
BTI 3001 Project und Training 1, 2019
BTI 3021 Project und Training 3, 2020, 2021, 2022
BTI 4201 Applied Cryptography 1, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
BTI 4202 Applied Cryptography 2, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
BTI 7061 Grundlagen der Informatik, 2017, 2018
BTI 7071 Telematik, 2017, 2018, 2019 2020
BTI 7072 Network Design and Services, 2018, 2019
BTI 7252 Management of Mobile Applications and Systems (MC2), 2017, 2018
BTI 7253 Management of Mobile Applications and Systems (MC3), 2018, 2019
BTI 7261 Secure IT Infrastructure (ITS1), 2018, 2019, 2020
BTI 7262 Secure IT Infrastructure (ITS2), 2017
BTI 7311 Seminar, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
BTX 8071 Netzwerke, 2018
 
Courses at TUM IN 2097 Master Course Computer Networks, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
IN 2194 Peer-to-Peer Systems and Security, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
 
Courses at DU FSEM 1111 Computer Security from a Free Software Perspective 2007
COMP 2355 Introduction to Systems Programming 2009
COMP 2400 UNIX Tools 2007
COMP 3351 Programming Languages 2006 2007 2008
COMP 3353 Compiler Construction 2007
COMP 3400 Mainframe Administration 2009
COMP 3704 Computer Security 2007 2009
COMP 4704 Distributed Stream Processing 2008
Software
 
GNU Anastasis is a key backup and recovery tool that allows users to distribute key shares to an open set of providers and to reconstruct the keys after passing authorization. Users can freely choose their providers and the authorization checks needed to recover the key material. Anastasis logo
GNU Anastasis
 
Taler
GNU Taler 		GNU Taler is an electronic payment system offering privacy for buyers while ensuring that income is easily accounted for by the state.
 
GNUnet is a framework for secure peer-to-peer networking that does not use any centralized or otherwise trusted services. Our high-level goal is to provide a strong free software foundation for a global network that provides security and in particular respects privacy. GNUnet is a GNU package. GNUnet
GNUnet
 
GNU libmicrohttpd
GNU libmicrohttpd 		GNU libmicrohttpd is a small C library that makes it easy to integrate an HTTP server into another application. GNU libmicrohttpd is free software and part of the GNU project. The project is widely used and one of the most popular HTTP server implementations on Freecode.
 
GNU libextractor is a library used to extract meta data from files of arbitrary type. The goal is to provide developers of file-sharing networks, browsers or WWW-indexing bots with a universal library to obtain simple keywords and meta data to match against queries and to show to users instead of only relying on filenames. libextractor contains a shell command extract that, similar to the well-known file command, can extract meta data from a file an print the results to stdout. It is designed to be extendable using plugins. libextractor is a GNU package. GNU libextractor
GNU libextractor
 
The Runabout is an extension of the Java libraries that adds two-argument multi-dispatch to Java without changing the language or the VM. The Runabout uses reflection to find visit methods. But instead of invoking the visit methods with reflection, the Runabout uses dynamic code generation to create code at run-time that will invoke the appropriate visit method. Runabout
 
Doodle Doodle is a tool to quickly search the documents on a computer. Doodle builds an index using meta-data contained in the documents and allows fast searches on the resulting database.
Publications

2024

  • "Lost and Found in the Fog of Trust", joint work with Özgür Kesim. JENSFEST, 2024 (bib, pdf)

2023

  • "The GNU Name System", joint work with Martin Schanzenbach and Bernd Fix, RFC 9498 November 2023 (bib)
  • "Practical Offline Payments Using One-Time Passcodes", joint work with Priscilla Huang, Emmanuel Benoist, and Sebastian Javier Marchano. SUERF Policy Notes, 622/2023 (bib, pdf)

2022

2021

2020

  • "GNU Taler – weit mehr als eine Spielerei", joint work with Andreas Habegger spirit, 3/2020 (bib, html)
  • "GNU Taler: bien plus qu’un simple gadget", joint work with Andreas Habegger spirit, 3/2020 (bib, html)
  • "The 'payto' URI Scheme for Payments", joint work with Florian Dold, RFC 8905 October 2020 (bib)

2019

  • "Was brauchen wir als Zivilgesellschaft eigentlich für eine Art von Netzwerk und was für eine Technik hätten wir den gerne?", Verschriftlichung des Vortrags von Christian Grothoff an der FiFF Konferenz 2018. FiFF Kommunikation, 1/19 (bib)
  • "Digital cash and privacy: What are the alternatives to Libra?", joint work with Alex Pentland (@MIT, @Medium, bib), 7/2019
  • "Monnaie numérique et vie privée: quels sont les alternatives à Libra?", joint work with Alex Pentland (@BFH bib), 9/2019
  • "Digitales Geld und Datenschutz: Welche Alternativen zu Libra gibt es?", joint work with Alex Pentland (@BFH bib), 9/2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

  • "Recycling Garbage Theory", CSD TR# 04-012 (pdf, bibtex)

2003

2002

2001

2000
Talks

2025

  • Talk: "eID Mark II" at ISOC-CH General Assembly, Biel, 2025. (pdf)
  • Workshop: "Unchained Digital Cash Payments" at EuroDIG, Strassbourg, 2025. (pdf)
  • Talk: "The GNU Taler payment system" at GNU/Linux Presentation Day, Zürich, 2025. (pdf)
  • Talk: "The GNU Taler payment system" at Remaking Money Symposium, Basel, 2025. (pdf)
  • Talk: "The FINMA Sandbox exception" at Remaking Money Symposium, Basel, 2025. (pdf)

2024

  • Talk: "The GNU Taler payment systems" at Workshop FIND Academia + Innosuisse, Bern, 2024
  • Talk: "GNU Taler für Events" at Datenspuren, Dresden, 2024. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Bezahlbestätigungen für Offline-Händler" at Swiss Cyber Security Days, Bern, 2024. (pdf)

2023

  • Talk: "RFC 9498: The GNU Name System" at Academia Sinia, Taipei, 2023. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Introduction to GNU Taler" at MozTW Lab, Taipei, 2023. (pdf)

2022

2020

2019

2018

  • Talk: "Netzwerkdienste für sozial-liberale Gesellschaften" at FIfFKon, Berlin, 2018. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler" at FI-ISAC, Dublin, 2018. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Escaping the Ossification Trap with GNUnet" at First Values of Internet Technologies Workshop, Biel, 2018. (pdf)
  • Talk: "The Internet: We deserve a GNU one!" at Politikforum Bern im Käfigturm, Bern, 2018. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler" at FS-ISAC, Amsterdam, 2018. (pdf)

2017

  • Talk: "GNU Taler" at UBS, Zürich, 2017. (pdf)
  • Defense: "The GNUnet" at University of Rennes 1, 2017. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler" at SHA, 2017. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler: Payments for the Common Good" at RMLL, St. Etienne, 2017. (en, fr)
  • Talk: "The GNU Name System: A Public Key Infrastructure for Social Movements in the Age of Universal Surveillance" at CCC-CH, Zürich, 2017. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Social Networks versus Security and Privacy" at Bern University of Applied Sciences, Biel, 2017. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Big Data, Little Data, No More Data" at TU Munich, Garching, 2017. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler" at Chaos Singularity, Biel, 2017.
  • Talk: "Decentralizing Privacy-Preserving Network Applications" at University of Luxemburg, 2017. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler" at University of Luxemburg, 2017.
  • Talk: "Towards Secure Name Resolution on the Internet", NDSS 2017 DNS Privacy Workshop 2017. (pdf)

2016

  • Talk: "Enabling Secure Web Payments with GNU Taler" at SPACE 2016, Hyderabad, 2016. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler: A Technological Option to Save our Democracy and Economy from `Cashless' Totalitarianism" at 50p, Bangalore, 2016. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler: Ein neues elektronisches Bezahlsystem" at iX Payment 2016, Darmstadt, 2016. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Enabling secure Web payments with Taler" at EIT Digital International Security Symposium, Rennes, 2016. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Anonymous Payment Systems" at MAPPING Second General Assembly, Prague, 2016. (pdf)
  • Panel: "Innovation, Complexity, Risk and Trust" at MAPPING Second General Assembly, Prague, 2016. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Netzwerksicherheit: Probleme und Lösungsansätze" at NPO Kongress, Wien, 2016. (pdf)
  • Talk: "The GNU Name System: A Public Key Infrastructure for Social Movements in the Age of Universal Surveillance" at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, 2016. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler" at the Free Software Foundation Fellowship Meeting, Düsseldorf, 2016. (pdf)
  • Talk: "The GNU Name System: A clean-slate solution to the DNS security and privacy nightmare" at Journée du Conseil scientifique de l'Afnic, Paris, 2016. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU Taler: A privacy-preserving online payment system for libre society" at CubaConf, Havana, 2016. (pdf)

2015

  • Talk: "The Architecture of the GNUnet" at Post-Snowden Cryptography, Brussels, 2015. (pdf, video)
  • Panel: "La protection de la vie privée et sécurité des objets connectés" at Invest in Cyber, 2015, Rennes, France, 2015.
  • Talk: "Cryptography in GNUnet: Protocols for a Future Internet for Libre Societies" at 19th Workshop on Elliptic Curve Cryptography, Bordeaux, 2015. (pdf)
  • Talk: "State Surveillance: Benefits and Risks" at International Summer Academy of the Studentenforum im Tönissteiner Kreis e.V., Berlin, 2015. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Knocking down the HACIENDA with TCP Stealth" at IETF 93, Prague, 2015. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Special Use Domain Names of P2P Systems" at IETF 93, Prague, 2015. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Knocking down the HACIENDA with TCP Stealth" at Security in Times of Surveillance, TU Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2015. (pdf, video)
  • Talk: "Résistance des GNUs" at ACTUX, Rennes, France, 2015. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Résistance des GNUs" at Linux User Group (LUG) Camp 2015, Germany, 2015. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Beyond GnuPG and Tor: Technologies to secure the future Internet" with Jeff Burdges at Jardin Entropique, Rennes, 2015. (pdf)
  • Talk: "The GNU Name System" at Security Seminar at LORIA, Nancy, 2015. (pdf)

2014

2013

  • Talk: "The GNU Name System" at 30th Chaos Communication Congress (30c3), Hamburg, Germany, 2013. (pdf)
  • Panel: "Secure Name Systems" at YBTI Assembly, 30c3, Hamburg, Germany, 2013. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Components for Building Secure Decentralized Networks" at INRIA IRISA, Rennes, France, 2013. (pdf)
  • Talk: "PRISM and an Agenda for European Network Security Research" at INRIA IRILL, Paris, France, 2013. (pdf)
  • Talk: "The GNU Name System and the Future of Social Networking with GNUnet" at GNU Hacker Meeting, Paris, France, 2013. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Tools for Breaking out of PRISM" at Piratenpartei, Berlin, Germany, 2013. (video & pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU libmicrohttpd" at Gulasch Programmier Nacht (GPN) 2013, Germany, 2013. (pdf)
  • Talk: "GNU libmicrohttpd" at Linux User Group (LUG) Camp 2013, Germany, 2013. (pdf)
  • Talk: "PRISM and an Agenda for European Network Security Research" at University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2013. (pdf)
  • Talk: "A Benchmark for HTTP 2.0 Header Compression" at IETF 87, Germany, 2013. (pdf)
  • Talk: "Tools for Breaking out of PRISM" at Piratenpartei Berlin, Germany, 2013. (pdf)

2012

  • Talk: "tlsdate" at Linux User Group (LUG) Camp 2012, Germany, 2012.
  • Talk: "A Quick Introduction to GNU libmicrohttpd" at GNU Hacker Meeting, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2012.

2010

  • Talk: "Fast Primer Search with DUP" at GIBU, Daghstuhl, Germany, 2010 (pdf).
  • Talk: "Spass mit paralleler und verteilter Programmierung" at LUG Camp 2010, Roth, Germany, 2010 (pdf).
  • Talk: "ARM statt init" at LUG Camp 2010, Roth, Germany, 2010 (pdf).
  • Talk: "Distributed Stream Processing with the DUP System" at Universität Wuppertal, Germany, 2010 (pdf).
  • Talk: "The GNUnet Peer-to-Peer Framework" at GNU Hacker Meeting, The Hague, 2010 (pdf).

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2002
Links

Curriculum vitae, DBLP

 
Education
August 2006
PhD (Computer Science - UCLA)
2005-2006
PhD studies in Computer Science at UCLA.
2000-2005
PhD studies in Computer Science at Purdue University
Summer 2004
Internship at IBM India Research Lab (IRL), working for Satish Chandra
2000-2003
MS in Computer Science at Purdue
1996-2001
1. Staatsexamen in chemistry at the BUGH Wuppertal
1996-2000
Diplom II in mathematics at the BUGH Wuppertal
 
Employment
September 2017 - current
Professor, Bern University of Applied Sciences
October 2014 - September 2017
DÉCENTRALISÉ Group Leader at Inria, Rennes, France
August 2014 - March 2016
Independent Journalist, The Intercept, Heise Verlag & Der Spiegel
September 2009 - August 2014
Emmy-Noether Nachwuchsgruppenleiter in Computer Science at the Technische Universität of München, Bavaria
September 2006 - August 2009
Assistant Professor for Computer Science at the University of Denver, Denver, Colorado
2005-2006
Research Assistant in Computer Science at UCLA
2000-2005
Research Assistant in Computer Science at Purdue University