Collaborative Research: NeTS-FIND: Protecting User Privacy in a Network with Ubiquitous Computing

现代无线计算设备泄露可用于跟踪和分析用户的信息，从而引发了对隐私的担忧。这些隐私问题是网络和链路层协议的低层设计所固有的，因此不能通过加密消息以确保其内容保密的传统方法来解决。这个项目研究的问题是如何在未来互联网的背景下保护用户隐私，这些无线计算设备具有丰富的连接。研究的重点是在不牺牲可管理性和可问责性要求的情况下实现这一点的设计。研究方法是研究现有的系统，如802.11，以表征隐私威胁，并设计改进的网络和链路协议，提供更强大的隐私保障。该项目的一部分是重新考虑各种形式的名称和地址，以将身份信息的泄露仅限于受信任的方。这包括隐藏身份而不损害依赖它们的网络功能的名称；不跨系统层泄露信息的名称发现和解析协议。；检测由端点暴露的隐式名称的技术。最后，该项目还探索了向用户暴露隐私状况的方法。广泛的影响：改善隐私和教育最终用户了解他们的隐私风险相结合，显著并有理由地减少互联网用户的恐惧。这使互联网成为一种更广泛的可访问资源，因为它允许用户执行他们以前可能不习惯的任务，如在线购物。

Modern wireless computing devices raise privacy concerns by leaking information that can be used to track and profile users. These privacy concerns are inherent to the low-level design of network and link-layer protocols and are, therefore, not addressed by the traditional approach of encrypting messages to ensure that their contents remain confidential. This project studies the question of how to protect user privacy in the context of a future Internet with rich connectivity to these wireless computing devices. The research focuses on designs that accomplish this without sacrificing the requirements for manageability and accountability.The research approach is to study existing systems such as 802.11 to characterize privacy threats and design improved network and link protocols that provide stronger privacy guarantees. Part of the project is to rethink names and addresses in their various forms to limit the disclosure of identity information only to trusted parties This includes names that conceal identity without compromising network functions, such as routing, that rely on them; name discovery and resolution protocols that do not reveal information across system layers.; techniques to detect implicit names exposed by end-points. Finally, the project also explores methods to expose the privacy status to users.Broader Impact: The combination of improving privacy and educating end-users about their privacy risks significantly and justifiably reduces the fears of Internet users. This makes the Internet a more widely accessible resource by allowing users to perform tasks, such as online-shopping, that they may not have been comfortable with before.