Towards HiMAS: A model for privacy preserving multi-agent systems

The current evolution of Information Technology leads to the increase of automatic data processing over multiple information systems. In this context, the lack of user’s control on their personal data leads to the crucial question of their privacy preservation. A typical example concerns the disclosure of confidential identity information, without the owner’s agreement. This problem is stressed in multi-agent systems (MAS) where users delegate their personal data control to autonomous agents. Interaction being one of the main mechanism in MAS, sensitive information exchange and processing are a key issue with respect to privacy. In this article, we propose a model, ”Hippocratic Multi-Agent System” (HiMAS), to tackle this problem. This model defines a set of principles bearing on an agency to preserve the users’ privacy and agents’ privacy. In order to illustrate our model, a concrete application of decentralized calendars management have been chosen.