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On the (Non-)anonymity of Anonymous Social Networks

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E-Democracy – Privacy-Preserving, Secure, Intelligent E-Government Services (e-Democracy 2017)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 792))

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Abstract

The anonymity provided by the so-called anonymous social networks is studied in this paper. In particular, five popular anonymous social networks - namely, Social Number, Anomo, Whisper, Candid and the Yik Yak - are being analysed, in terms of investigating the data that are being processed by the corresponding mobile applications on Android systems. The results show that there is personal data processing in place which in some cases may result in tracking or even identification of the users and, thus, anonymity is not ensured.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, G. Kranidioti Ave., 2220, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Vasileios Chatzistefanou & Konstantinos Limniotis

  2. Hellenic Data Protection Authority, Kifissias 1–3, 11523, Athens, Greece

    Konstantinos Limniotis

Authors
  1. Vasileios Chatzistefanou
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  2. Konstantinos Limniotis
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Correspondence to Konstantinos Limniotis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Gjøvik, Norway

    Sokratis K. Katsikas

  2. Data Protection Authority, Athens, Greece

    Vasilios Zorkadis

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Chatzistefanou, V., Limniotis, K. (2017). On the (Non-)anonymity of Anonymous Social Networks. In: Katsikas, S., Zorkadis, V. (eds) E-Democracy – Privacy-Preserving, Secure, Intelligent E-Government Services. e-Democracy 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 792. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71117-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71117-1_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71116-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71117-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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