Personal Privacy in Mobile Networks

Technical enhancements of mobile technologies and the pervasive diffusion of mobile devices have radically changed the way in which users communicate and interact. Users stay virtually connected anywhere anytime, and information on their location and mobility is easily available and accessible. As a consequence, new mobile and online applications have been developed, which need the location information of the users to offer enhanced services. However, the availability of such advanced services and functionalities comes at the price of an increasing risk of privacy attacks that aim at monitoring users in every move and activity. This scenario results in a renewed interest in solutions for protecting the privacy of mobile users, especially in those environments where lack of protection may result in persecution, political violence, and government abuses. This chapter first analyzes potential privacy threats in mobile networks and then defines different categories of location privacy (i.e., communication, position, and path privacy). It finally presents several solutions for the protection of location privacy in different setting and mobile networks.