Synonyms
Anonymity in location-based services;Privacy-preserving spatial queries;Spatial k-anonymity
Definition
LetU be a user who is asking via a mobile device (e.g., phone, PDA) a query relevant to his current location, such as “find the nearest betting office.” This query can be answered by a Location Based Service (LBS) in a public web server (e.g., Google Maps, MapQuest), which is not trustworthy. Since the query may be sensitive, U uses encryption and a pseudonym, in order to protect his privacy. However, the query still contains the exact location, which may reveal the identity of U. For example, if U asks the query within his residence, an attacker may use public information (e.g., white pages) to associate the location with U. Spatial k-Anonymity (SKA) solves this problem by ensuring that an attacker cannot identify U as the querying user with probability larger than 1∕k, where kis a user-defined anonymity requirement. To achieve this, a centralized or distributed...
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Kalnis, P., Ghinita, G. (2018). Spatial Anonymity. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8265-9_352
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8265-9_352
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