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 Ruben Cuevas Rumin
Associate Professor

Telphone: (+34) 91-624-5703
Fax:91-624-8749
E-mail: rcuevas@it.uc3m.es
Address: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Avda de la Universidad, 30
E-28911 Leganes (Madrid) Spain
Visits: Escuela Politecnica Superior. Building Torres Quevedo. Office 4.0.F08


 SHORT BIO

Ruben Cuevas is Associate Professor in the Telematics Engineering Department at Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M). He is also the Deputy Director of the UC3M-Santander Big Data Institute (IBiDat). Between January and December 2012 he was Courtesy Assistant Professor in the Computer and Information Science department at University of Oregon.
He obtained his PhD and MSc in Telematics Engineering and MSc in Telecommunications Engineering at University Carlos III of Madrid in 2010, 2007 and 2005 respectively. Furthermore, he received his MSc in Network Planning and Managment at Aalborg University (Denmark) in 2006.
Ruben is coauthor of more than 70 papers in prestigious international journals and conferences such as ACM CoNEXT, WWW, Usenix Security, ACM IMC, ACM HotNets, IEEE Infocom, ACM CHI, IEEE/ACM TON, IEEE TPDS, CACM, PNAS, Nature Scientific Reports, PlosONE or Communications of the ACM. He has been the PI of 16 research projects funded by the EU H2020 and FP7 programs, the National Government of Spain and private companies and overall has participated in 27 research projects.
Ruben's main research interests include Online Advertising, Web Transparency, Personalization and Privacy, Internet Measurements and its application to solve longstanding problems in other disciplines such as economy or sociology.
His research in file-sharing piracy, online social networks, online advertising fraud and web transparency has been featured in major international and national media such as The Financial Times, BBC, The Guardian, The Times, New Scientist, Wired, Corriere della Sera, O'Globo, Le Figaro, El Universal, El Pais, El Mundo, ABC, Cadena Ser, Cadena Cope, TVE, Antena3, La Sexta, etc.
Ruben is the recipient of several prestigious prizes including the Telefonica Foundation Prize to the best Spanish PhD Thesis in Communication Networks and Services granted by the Spanish Telecommunication Association as well as the 2018 Emilio Aced Research Prize for the best research work in data protection granted by the Spanish Data Protection authority.
Ruben has been teaching since 2006 in different degrees and masters at UC3M in the fields of Telecommunications Engineering, Telematics Engineering and Computer Science. Moreover he was the Main Instructor of a Master/PhD course at the CIS department at University of Oregon in Fall semester 2012.

 NEWS

  • [Apr 2022] Our paper, Expanding the measurement of culture with a sample of two billion humans, has been accepted for publication at the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Hopefully a paper that can contribute to a new way of measuring cultural aspects of society at scale.
  • [Apr 2022] Our paper, A deep dive into the accuracy of IP Geolocation Databases and its impact on online advertising, accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions onf Mobile Computing.
  • [Nov 2021] Our paper, Unique on Facebook: formulation and evidence of (nano) targeting individual users with non-PII data, selected as runner-up for best paper award at IMC 2021.
  • [Nov 2021] The Sustainability in Advertising Lab has been joinlty lunch with CAVAI.
  • [Sep 2021] Meta (formely Facebook) has granted to an IBiDAT's team led by me a grant to research the performance of profiling algorithms in the context of digital marketing.
  • [Sep 2021] The EU project TESTABLE was successfully kicked-off in Saarbrücken.
  • [Jan 2021] Our paper, Does Facebook use sensitive data for advertising purposes?, is the front page article in the first 2021 issue of the Communication of ACM magazine.
  • [Jan 2020] I am looking two great PhD students to join my team. If you are interested check the details here
  • [Dec 2019] Great article by Rebeca Gimeno about Angel (my brother) and myself, mixing very nicely professional and personal sides of our lives. link.
  • [Dec 2019] The EU project PIMICITY was successfully kicked-off in Turin.
  • [Dec 2019] Our work about the use of sensitive categories in Facebook for advertising accepted at Communications of the ACM.
  • [Sep 2019] Two papers accepted at ACM CoNEXT: QTag (on measuring viewability in digital marketing) and EyeWnder (on detecting targeted ads).
  • [May 2019] UC3M team wins the I-COM Datascience Hackathon, third time in the last four years!!
  • [Jan 2019] We have received the Spanish Data Protection Agency 2018 Emilio Aced Research Prize for our work "Unveiling and Quantifying Facebook Exploitation of Sensitive Personal Data for Advertising Purposes".
  • [Dec 2018] Our paper, Nameles: An intelligent system for Real-Time Filtering of Invalid Ad Traffic, accepted at WWW 2019.
  • [Aug 2018] Our research on Facebook Gender Divide featured in Scientific American (Sep 2018 Issue). link.
  • [Aug 2018] UK's data protection entity, ICO, referred our study on Facebook Use of Sensitive information in the concluding report of its investigation of Cambridge Analytica event (see Section 3.19 page 40). link.
  • [Jul 2018] I have been appointed Associate Professor.
  • [May 2018] Our paper on Facebook Gender Divide accepted at PNAS.
  • [May 2018] Our paper on Facebook use of sensitive data for advertising purposes accepted at Usenix Security 2018.
  • [May 2018] We start the EU SMOOTH project to help micro-enterprises adopting the GDPR
  • [April 2018] Our paper defining an unsupervised algorithm for identifying influential users in OSNs accepted at Nature Scientific Reports.
  • [March 2018] Our research on Facebook use of senstive data for advertising purposes featured in press: NewScientist, Financial Times, Sunday Times, Le Figaro, Agencia EFE, Cuatro TV, etc. link.
  • [Dec 2017] Our research on the socio-cultural similarity of Spanish regions (including Cataluña) featured by EFE (one of the main press agencies in Spain) and several other media (El Confidencial, Diario.es, La Razon, Libertad Digital, etc). link.
  • [Dec 2017] Interview with Angel Cuevas for NTN24 about value of users for online advertising and web transparency. link.
 RESEARCH

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
  • Expanding the measurement of culture with a sample of two billion humans
    N.Obradovich, Ö. Özak, I. Martón, I. Ortuño-Ortín, E. Awad, M. Cebrián, R. Cuevas, K. Desmet, I. Rahwan, A. Cuevas
    The Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 2022.
    Download (preprint)

  • A deep dive into the accuracy of IP Geolocation Databases and its impact on online advertising
    P. Callejo, M. Gramaglia, R. Cuevas, A. Cuevas
    IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. 2022.
    Download (preprint)

  • The Gender Gap in Preferences: Evidence from 45,397 Facebook Interests
    A. Cuevas, R. Cuevas, K. Desmet, I. Ortuño-Ortín
    National Bureau of Economic Research. 2021.
    Download (working paper)

  • Unique on Facebook: formulation and evidence of (nano) targeting individual users with non-PII data
    J. González-Cabañas, A. Cuevas, R. Cuevas, J López-Fernández, D. García
    ACM IMC. 2021. (runner up for best paper award)
    Download (preprint)

  • Does Facebook Use Sensitive Data for Advertising Purposes? Worldwide Analysis and GDPR Impact
    A. Cuevas, J. González, A. Arrate, R. Cuevas
    Communications of the ACM. 2021.
    Download (preprint)

  • Q-Tag: A transparent solution to measure ads viewability rate in online advertising campaigns
    P. Callejo, A. Pastor, R. Cuevas, A. Cuevas
    The 15th ACM International Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies (ACM CoNEXT). 2019.
    Download

  • Beyond content analysis: Detecting targeted ads via distributed counting
    C. Iordanou, N. Kourtellis, J. M. Carrascosa, C. Soriente, R. Cuevas, N. Laoutaris
    The 15th ACM International Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies (ACM CoNEXT). 2019.
    Download

  • Nameles: An intelligent system for Real-Time Filtering of Invalid Ad Traffic
    A. Pastor, M. Parssinen, P. Callejo, P. Vallina, R. Cuevas, A. Cuevas, A. Azcorra
    The Web Conference (WWW). 2019.
    Download (preprint)

  • Analyzing gender inequality through large-scale Facebook advertising data
    D. Garcia, Y. Mitike-Kassa, A. Cuevas, M. Cebrian, E. Moro, I. Rahwan, R. Cuevas
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS). 2018.
    Download (preprint)

  • Facebook use of sensitive data for advertising in Europe
    J. Gonzalez, A. Cuevas, R. Cuevas
    27th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security). 2018.
    Download(preprint)

  • Unsupervised Scalable Statistical Method for Identifying Influential Users in Online Social Networks
    A. Azcorra, L.F. Chiroque, R. Cuevas, A. Fernandez-Anta, H. Laniado, R. Lillo, J. Romo
    Nature Scientific Reports. 2018.
    Download

  • Opportunities and Challenges of Ad-based Measurements from the Edge of the Network
    P. Callejo, C. Kelton, N. Vallina-Rodriguez, R. Cuevas, O. Gasser, C. Kreibich, F. Wohlfart, A. Cuevas
    16th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks (HotNets). 2017.
    Download

  • FDVT: Data Valuation Tool for Facebook Users
    J.Gonzalez, A. Cuevas, R. Cuevas
    The ACM Confernece on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI). 2017.
    Download

  • Independent Auditing of Online Display Advertising Campaigns
    P. Callejo, R. Cuevas, A. Cuevas, M. Kotila
    15th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks (HotNets). 2016.
    Download

  • Understanding the detection of fake-view fraud in Video Content Portals
    M. Marciel, R. Cuevas, A. Banchs, R. Gonzalez, S. Traverso, M. Ahmed, A. Azcorra
    25th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW). 2016.
    Download

  • Assessing The Evolution of Google+ in its First Two Years
    R. Gonzalez, R. Cuevas, R. Motamedi, R. Rejaie, A. Cuevas
    IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (TON). 2015
    Download

  • I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me. Measuring Online Behavioural Advertising
    J. Carrascosa, J. Mikians, R. Cuevas, V. Erramilli, N. Laoutaris
    11th ACM International Conference on emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies (ACM CoNEXT). 2015.
    Download

  • Quantifying the Economic and Cultural Biases of Social Media through Trending Topics
    J. Carrascosa, R. Cuevas, R. Gonzalez, A. Azcorra, D. Garcia
    PLOS ONE. 2015.
    Download

  • BitTorrent Locality and Transit Traffic Reduction: when, why and at what cost?
    R.Cuevas, N.Laoutaris, Y. Xiao, G. Siganos and P. Rodriguez
    IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS). 2014
    Download

  • Are Trending Topics useful for marketing? Visibility of Trending Topics vs Traditional Advertisement
    J. Carrascosa, R. Gonzalez, R. Cuevas, A. Azcorra
    ACM Conference on Online Social Networks (COSN). 2013.
    Download

  • Investigating the Reaction of BitTorrent Content Publishers to Antipiracy Actions
    R. Farahbaksh, A. Cuevas, R. Cuevas, R. Rejaie, M. Krycka, R. Gonzalez, N. Crespi
    IEEE International Conference on Peer-to-Peer Computing (P2P). 2013.
    Download

  • Google+ or Google-? Dissecting the Evolution of the New OSN in its First Year
    R. Gonzalez, R. Cuevas, R. Motamedi, R. Rejaie, A. Cuevas
    22nd International World Wide Web Conference (WWW). 2013.
    Download

  • A survey of mobility in information-centric networks
    G. Tyson, N. Sastry, R. Cuevas, I. Rimac and A. Mauthe
    Communications of the ACM (CACM). 2013
    Download

  • Unveiling the Incentives for Content Publishing in Popular BitTorrent Portals
    R.Cuevas, M.Kryczka, A. Cuevas, S. Kaune, C. Guerrero and R. Rejaie
    IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (TON). 2013.
    Download

  • Unraveling the structure of live BitTorrent Swarms: methodology and analysis
    M.Kryczka, R. Cuevas, C. Guerrero and A. Azcorra
    IEEE International Conf. in Peer-to-Peer Computing (IEEE P2P). 2011.
    Download

  • Deep Diving into BitTorrent Locality
    R.Cuevas, N.Laoutaris, Y. Xiao, G. Siganos and P. Rodriguez
    IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (IEEE INFOCOM). 2011.
    Download the tech report
    This paper was mentioned as one of the best papers of the week in the MIT's Technology Review Blog.
    The short version of this paper was nominated for ACM Sigmetrics 2010 Best Student Poster Award (3/28 posters were nominated).

  • Is Content Publishing in BitTorrent Altruistic or Profit-Driven?
    R.Cuevas, M.Kryczka, A. Cuevas, S. Kaune, C. Guerrero and R. Rejaie
    6th ACM International Conference on emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies (ACM CoNEXT). 2010
    This paper was selected for fast-track to IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking
    Download

  • Unraveling BitTorrent's File Unavailability: Measurements and Analysis
    S, Kaune, R.Cuevas, G. Tyson, A. Mauthe, C. Guerrero and R. Steinmetz
    IEEE International Conference in Peer-to-Peer Computing (IEEE P2P). 2010
    Download

  • Routing fairness in Chord: Analysis and Enhancement
    R. Cuevas, M. Uruena, A. Banchs
    The 28th Conference on Computer Communications (IEEE INFOCOM). 2009.
    Download
    This paper received the School on Advanced Topics In Networking (SATIN) Best Paper Award (Selected among more than 90 papers).

Full List of Publications



PROJECTS

Current Projects:
  • TESTABLE: TestabiliTy Pattern-driven Web Application Security and Privacy Testing (H2020-101019206). Funded by the European Union.
  • PIMCITY: Building the next generation Personal Data Platforms (H2020-871370). Funded by the European Union.
  • NEC Chair: on Network Analytics. Funded by NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH.
  • Analyzing the accuracy, transparency, and privacy of digital advertising's profiling algorithms. Funded by Meta (formely Facebook).
  • Sustainability in Advertising Lab Chair. Funded by Cavai.
Past Projects:
  • Taptap Digital-UC3M Chair in Advanced AI and Data Science applied to advertising and marketing. Funded by TapTap Digital.
  • SMOOTH: GDPR Complace Cloud Platform for Micro Enterprises (H2020-786741). Funded by the European Union.
  • 5G-City: Adaptive Management of 5G Services to Support Critical Events in Cities. Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
  • Multi-variable Machine-Learning Optimization Engine. Funded by TapTap Digital.
  • BRADE-CM: BRAin inspired Data Engineering. Funded by the Regional Government of Madrid.
  • ReCRED: from REal-world identities to privacy-preserving and attribute-based CREDentials for device-centric access control (H2020-653417). Funded by the European Union.
  • Implementing a Parser for Web Security Analyisis Experiments. Funded by the NEC Europe.
  • TYPES: Towards transparencY and Privacy in the onlinE advertising businesS (H2020-653449). Funded by the European Union.
  • Attribution Models for Online Advertising Campaigns. Funded by Neo@Ogilvi.
  • FDVT: Personal Data Valuation Tool For Facebook Users. Funded by the Data Transparency Lab.
  • eCOUSIN: enhanced COntent distribUtion with Social INformation (FP7-318398). Funded by the European Union.
  • eeCONTENT: energy efficiency in Content Distribution.Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO).
  • TREND: Towards Real Energy-efficient Network Design (FP7-257740).Funded by the European Union.
  • SoCAM: Sistema Operativo de Codigo Abierto Multi-Dispositivo. Funded by ZED Worldwide S.A., throught the Ministrty of Industry, Energy and Tourism (MINETUR)
  • Oraculo: Technological platform for real-time data packet analysis Funded by ZED Worldwide S.A., throught the Ministrty of Industry, Energy and Tourism (MINETUR)
  • MEDIANET: Integracion de Servicios Multimedia de Siguiente Genercion en la Internet del Futuro (S2009/TIC-1468). Funded by the Regional Government of Madrid.
  • CARMEN: Carrier Grade Mesh Networks (NFSO-ICT.214994).  Funded by the European Union.
  • Informe técnico sobre quién son los usuarios que hacen disponibles los contenidos que se comparten a través de la aplicación BitTorrent.  Funded by La Coalicion de Creadores e Industrias de Contenidos.
  • CONTENT: Excellence in Content Distribution Network Research (FP6-CONTENT-038423).Funded by the European Union.
  • BIOGRIDNET: Evolucion de las Aplicaciones Bioinformáticas sobre Servicios de Red y Computacion Distribuida Grid. Funded by the Regional Goverment.
  • DAIDALOS: Designing Advanced network Interfaces for the Delivery and Administration of Location independent, Optimised personal Services (IST-FP6-506997), Funded by the European Union.



PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
  • Editorial Board:
    • Guest Editor of the Special Issue of Computer Communications on Green Networking. Elsevier Computer Communications. CFP

  • TPC Chair: IEEE HOTPOST 2014

  • TPC Member: IFIP TMA 2020, ACM CoNEXT 2018, ICWSM 2018, IEEE GLOBAL INTERNET 2018, SIGCOMM 2017, TMA 2017, IMC 2016, ICWSM 2016, COMSNETS 2016, ITC 2016, IFIP NETWORKING 2016, GLOBAL INTERNET 2016, WONS 2016, IFIP NETWORKING 2015, CNCTV 2015, GLOBAL INTERNET 2015, IFIP NETWORKING 2014, GLOBAL INTERNET 2014, LCN 2014, CCNC 2014, ICCCN 2014, WONS 2014, IEEE ICNP Student Workshop 2014, ICDCS 2013, IEEE LCN 2013, IFIP NETWORKING 2013, ICCCN 2013, IMW 2013, IEEE ICNP Student Workshop 2014, SMARTGREENS 2013, WONS 2013, IEEE HOTPOST 2013, SETM 2013, GREENCOM 2013, ICCCN 2012, WONS 2012, IEEE HOTPOST 2012, IEEE ICON 2012, IEEE ICCCN 2011, IEEE PerGroup 2011, IEEE ICON 2011, COPS 2010.

  • Program Board for Industrial Events: Data Science Board, I-COM (Global Forum for Marketing Data and Measurement)

  • Organizing Committee Member: IEEE ICNP 2019 (Publicity Chair), e-Energy 2012 (Publicity Chair), COMSNETS 2012 (Publicity Chair)

  • Reviewer: IEEE/ACM TON, IEEE TPDS, IEEE INFOCOM, ACM CoNEXT, ACM TOMCCAP, IEEE Network, Elsevier Computer Networks, Elsevier Computer Communications, IEEE Communications Letters, IEEE ICC, IEEE Globecom, IEEE VTC, etc.



STUDENTS

PhD Students:
  • Miguel Angel Bermejo (Institute IMDEA Networks and UC3M). Expected Graduation in 2025.
  • Amir Reza Merhjoo (Institute IMDEA Networks and UC3M). Expected Graduation in 2024.
  • Jesus Romero (NEO Ogilvi and UC3M). Expected Graduation in 2024.
  • Patricia Callejo (Institute IMDEA Networks and UC3M). Graduated in 2020.
  • Yonas Mitike (Institute IMDEA Networks and UC3M). Graduated in 2020.
  • Juan Miguel Carrascosa (UC3M). Graduated in 2016.
  • Roberto Gonzalez (UC3M). Graduated in 2014.
  • Michal Kryczka (Institute IMDEA Networks and UC3M). Graduated 2013.
 TEACHING

  • Web Analytics (4th year, Degrees in Data and Engineering Science. English) [21-22]
  • Computer Networks and Services (2nd year, Degree in Sound and Image Engineering. Spanish) [21-22]
  • Advanced Spreadsheets (2nd year, Several Degrees, English) [20-21],[21-22]
  • Computer Networks and Services (2nd year, Degrees in Communication Systems, Telematics and Audiovisual Engineering. English) [12-13],[13-14],[14-15],[15-16], [16-17],[17-18],[18-19],[19-20]
  • Internet Measurements (MSc in Telematic Engineering. English) [13-14],[14-15],[15-16],[16-17],[17-18],[18-19],[19-20]
  • Hojas de Calculo (2nd year, Degree in Audiovisual Communications. Spanish) [18-19],[19-20]
  • Estandares y Protocolos de Comunicacion (MSc in Internet of Things)[19-20]
  • Laboratorio de Ingenieria de Servicios (5th year, Ing. Telecomunicacion. Spanish) [05-06],[06-07],[07-08],[08-09],[09-10],[12-13],[13-14],[14-15]
  • Service Engineering Laboratory (5th year, Ing. Telecomunicacion) [05-06,[06-07],[07-08],[08-09],[09-10],[12-13],[13-14], [14-15]
  • Content Delivery Networks (MSc in Telematic Engineering. English) [12-13]
  • Redes y Servicios de Comunicacion (2nd year, Degree Communication Systems Engineering. Spanish) [10-11],[12-13]
  • Boradband Networks ( MSc in Telematic Engineering. English) [11-12]
  • Arquitecturas de Redes de Acceso y Medio Compartido (2nd year, Degree Telematics Engineering. Spanish) [09-10],[11-12]
  • Communication Networks Architecture Laboratory (5th year, Ing. Telecomunicación, English) [09-10]
  • Telematica I (1st year, Ing. Tec. Telecomunicacion: esp. Telematica, Spanish)[05-06],[06-07],[07-08]
  • Transmisión de Datos y Redes (2nd year, Ing. Tecnica Informatica de Gestion. Spanish) [06-07],[07-08],[08-09]
  • Master en Administracion y Gestion de Sistemas Informaticos [07-08]
  • Laboratorio de Redes Multimedia (1st year, Ing. Tec. Telecomunicacion: esp. Imagen y Sonido. Spanish)[08-09]
  • Tendencias de Sistemas Telematicos (3th year, Ing.Tec. Telecomunicacion: esp. Telematica. Spanish) [05-06],[06-07]
  • Network Infrastructure (MsC. Network and E-Business Centred Computing. Erasmus Mundus Program, English)[05-06],[06-07]

  • Offered TFGs and Master Thesis. We continuously offer TFGs and Master Thesis in the area of Online Advertising, Privacy, Online Social Networks and Internet Measurements. You can find some of them in the UC3M portal filtering by my name. However, note that this is not a complete list.

 LINKS
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