Introduction to privacy enhancing technologies: A classification-based approach to understanding PETs

Abstract

This textbook provides a unique lens through which the myriad of existing Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) can be easily comprehended and appreciated. It answers key privacy-centered questions with clear and detailed explanations. Why is privacy important? How and why is your privacy being eroded and what risks can this pose for you? What are some tools for protecting your privacy in online environments? How can these tools be understood, compared, and evaluated? What steps can you take to gain more control over your personal data? This book addresses the above questions by focusing on three fundamental elements: It introduces a simple classification of PETs that allows their similarities and differences to be highlighted and analyzed; It describes several specific PETs in each class, including both foundational technologies and important recent additions to the field; It explains how to use this classification to determine which privacy goals are actually achievable in a given real-world environment. Once the goals are known, this allows the most appropriate PETs to be selected in order to add the desired privacy protection to the target environment. To illustrate, the book examines the use of PETs in conjunction with various security technologies, with the legal infrastructure, and with communication and computing technologies such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Machine Learning (ML). Designed as an introductory textbook on PETs, this book is essential reading for graduate-level students in computer science and related fields, prospective PETs researchers, privacy advocates, and anyone interested in technologies to protect privacy in online environments.