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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Title: Practically Efficient ZKPs for Preventing Collusion in Auctions
Abstract:
In an important mechanism for sealed bid auctions developed by Vickrey and rewarded by a Nobel Prize, the highest bidder gets the item and pays the second highest bid value. Vickrey proved that for these auctions the best strategy for a participant is to bid his private true value for the item. Despite this advantage, second-price auctions are rarely used because they are subject to collusion of bidders. Employing novel cryptography we show that collusion can be avoided thus solving a long standing open problem. The talk will be generally accessible. Joint work with Silvio Micali.