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

现代无线计算设备通过泄露可用于跟踪和配置用户的信息而引起隐私问题。这些隐私问题是网络和链路层协议的底层设计所固有的，因此，传统的加密消息以确保其内容保密的方法无法解决这些问题。该项目研究如何在未来互联网与这些无线计算设备的丰富连接的背景下保护用户隐私。研究的重点是设计，实现这一点，而不牺牲的要求，隐私和accountability.研究方法是研究现有的系统，如802.11，以表征隐私威胁和设计改进的网络和链路协议，提供更强的隐私保障。该项目的一部分是重新考虑各种形式的名称和地址，以限制身份信息仅向可信方披露。这包括隐藏身份而不损害网络功能（如依赖于它们的路由）的名称;不跨系统层披露信息的名称发现和解析协议。检测端点暴露的隐式名称的技术。 最后，该项目还探索了向用户公开隐私状态的方法。更广泛的影响：改善隐私和教育最终用户了解其隐私风险的结合显著和可靠地减少了互联网用户的恐惧。这使得互联网成为一个更广泛的访问资源，允许用户执行任务，如在线购物，他们可能不习惯以前。

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.