Online Privacy:
Challenges & Solutions
Abstract: As Internet usage has been growing significantly, so too has the issue of online privacy become an even greater concern. The World Wide Web is not just a valuable information resource for users, but a borderless open arena for e-commerce and e-government transactions. Several recent surveys show that users’ concern about their personal information privacy reduces their use of electronic businesses and Internet services (it is the first barrier according to Gartner Group, 2003). Moreover, many users intend to provide false data in order to protect their real identities. Issues such as: who has access to the personal information, what type of access, why, when and for how long, are users’ main concerns.
In this presentation, I will attempt to discuss some of the most important current online privacy issues, challenges, legislations, and solutions. I will go through the pros and cons of centralized and distributed e-privacy architectures, Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), and some remaining open research problems.