NeTS: Small: Endpoint User Profile Control

互联网已经从一个小型的非营利性网络转变为一个巨大的基础设施，创造了数十亿美元的收入。不幸的是，跟踪器和信息聚合器对终端用户的隐私造成了前所未有的压力，因为用户的简档被用来确定哪些个性化内容(例如，广告、搜索结果、推荐等)。将被提供给给定的用户。追踪者的共同目标是收集更完美的用户配置文件，试图从内容个性化中增加收入。这样的用户分析经常会被误用。例如，最近报道了价格和搜索歧视的迹象。其他人则认为，内容个性化产生了所谓的“过滤泡沫”效应，对社会，尤其是民主的未来有着更深远的影响。PI建议，将终端用户配置文件控制作为解决上述个性化引发的问题的综合方法。在PI的方法中，用户有能力和手段，这个项目将开发，以显式定义和隐式控制其配置文件在所有可能的追踪器一次。PI将开发和实施终端用户配置文件控制器，将其作为终端用户和终端客户端应用程序之间的一个薄子层。控制器通过在公共领域中留下受控的在线足迹来印记期望的用户简档，例如通过主动访问来自一组所选主题的网页、发送与用户定义简档语义链接的搜索查询等。这允许用户向他们遇到的所有可能的跟踪器提交他们的偏好，给予用户对其简档的单点控制。智能优点：拟议的研究将解决开发和部署有效的终端用户配置文件控制的关键基本问题。主要的挑战是如何有效地同时控制大量的广告跟踪器，以及如何以可扩展和有效的方式实现这一点。PI的重点将是(I)广告跟踪器、(Ii)网站跟踪器、(Iii)搜索引擎跟踪器、(Iv)社交网络跟踪器和(V)信息聚合器的控制。PI将开发统计方法来准确评估这些追踪器的性能，以便有效地控制它们。建议的技术范围从统计规则挖掘到开发有效控制所需的综合评分、降噪和正交探测算法。广泛影响：通过授权用户显式和全面地控制其在互联网上的用户个人资料，该系统不仅将帮助用户恢复其在线隐私，而且将增强人类自由，促进自由开放的社会。这将有可能实现，而不需要仔细审查在线广告行业，该行业实际上正在为当今的互联网提供资金。拟议的系统能够以现实和可行的方式实现这一目标，而不需要采用复杂的基础设施。PI计划将终端用户配置文件控制器设计和传播为易于使用的浏览器扩展、插件和移动应用程序，从而实现有效的终端用户配置文件控制。

The Internet has transformed from a small non-profit network into a gigantic infrastructure that creates revenues measured in billions of dollars. Unfortunately, this has created an unprecedented pressure on the end user's privacy by trackers and information aggregators, because a user's profile is used to determine which personalized content (e.g., ads, search results, recommendations, etc.) will be served to the given user. The common goal of the trackers is to gather a more perfect user profile in an attempt to increase revenues from content personalization. Such user profiling can often be misused. For example, signs of price and search discrimination have been recently reported. Others argue that content personalization, which creates the so-called 'filter bubble' effect, has an even more profound impact on the society and in particular on the future of democracy.The PI proposes endpoint user profile control as a comprehensive approach to the above personalization-induced problems. In the PI's approach, the user has the ability and means, which this project will develop, to explicitly define and implicitly control its profile at all possible trackers at once. The PI will develop and implement endpoint user profile controller as a thin sub-layer that 'sits' between the end-user and endpoint client applications. The controller imprints the desired user profiles by leaving controlled online footprints in the public domain, e.g., by actively visiting web pages from a set of selected topics, sending search queries semantically linked with the user-defined profile etc. This allows users to submit their preferences to all possible trackers they encounter, granting the user a single point of control over their profiles. Intellectual Merit: The proposed research will address fundamental questions that are key to developing and deploying effective endpoint user profile control. The main challenges are how to effectively control numerous ad trackers at once and how to achieve this in a scalable and effective manner. The PI's focus will be on the control of (i) ad trackers, (ii) web site trackers, (iii) search engine trackers, (iv) social-network trackers, and (v) information aggregators. The PI will develop statistical methods to accurately evaluate the properties of these trackers in order to effectively control them. The proposed techniques range from statistical rule mining to developing comprehensive scoring, noise-reduction, and orthogonal probing algorithms that are necessary for effective control.Broader Impact: By empowering the user to explicitly and comprehensively control his user profile on the Internet, the system will not only help users regain their online privacy, but also enhance human liberties and promote free and open society. This will be possible to achieve without scrutinizing the online advertising industry, which is effectively funding today's Internet. The proposed system is capable of achieving this goal in a realistic and feasible way, without the adoption of a complex infrastructure. The PI plans to design and disseminate endpoint user profile controller as easy-to-use browser extensions, plug-ins, and mobile applications, which will enable effective endpoint user profile control.