Protecting privacy and anonymity in pervasive computing: trends and perspectives

Pervasive computing is expected to enter our everyday life in the foreseeable future. The capabilities of the devices, which operate in such an environment, as well as the range of services offered to the end-users are expected to be significantly increased. However, this new era is expected to have a serious effect on privacy. In this paper, we first refer to the privacy threats identified in a pervasive environment; then, we present a set of principles for ensuring privacy in this context. In the sequel, we examine a number of privacy protection mechanisms for pervasive systems, with a focus on the level of anonymity offered to the end-users. We identify flaws, these mechanisms suffer by, in terms of the limited anonymity level they offer. We conclude by presenting a set of essential actions one should take into account, in order to ensure user s anonymity in a pervasive computing environment. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.