Abstract
We present a novel algorithm that safeguards the location privacy of users accessing location-based services via mobile devices. Our technique exploits the capability of mobile devices to form wireless ad-hoc networks in order to hide a user’s identity and position. Local ad-hoc networks enable us to separate an agent’s request for location information, the query initiator, from the agent that actually requests this service on its behalf, the query requestor. Since a query initiator can select itself or one of the k − 1 agents in its ad-hoc network as a query requestor, the query initiator remains k-anonymous. In addition, the location revealed to the location service provider is a rectangle instead of an exact coordinate. We develop an anonymous selection algorithm that selects a query requestor with near-uniform randomness, which is a key component to ensure anonymity in an ad-hoc network. Our experiments show that a system can ensure a high quality of service and maintain a high degree of privacy in terms of anonymity and obfuscation while accessing location-based services.
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Hashem, T., Kulik, L. (2007). Safeguarding Location Privacy in Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks. In: Krumm, J., Abowd, G.D., Seneviratne, A., Strang, T. (eds) UbiComp 2007: Ubiquitous Computing. UbiComp 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4717. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74853-3_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74853-3_22
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