Location privacy

Abstract

Location privacy is concerned with the protection of information about the position of an individual over a period of time. Location privacy problems arise in any mobile networking scenario since nodes need to disclose information about their position to enable correct data delivery. Such problems become more critical in the case of ad hoc networks where the wireless multihop nature of the communication paradigm is the cause of more opportunities of eavesdropping for an attacker. Furthermore, as nodes move in time they must exchange location information with each other for the purpose of topology control and routing updates, which results in a disclosure of location information. Specific location privacy problems are encountered in the case of wireless sensor networks where sensors can detect the presence and movements of individuals even if they do not bring any communication device, which causes several possibilities of location privacy violations. In this chapter, first a discussion about what is privacy, how it is possible to classify it, and how to measure it is provided. Next, the most relevant research results in the area of location privacy in wireless ad hoc, vehicular, and sensor networks scenarios are surveyed. Finally, an analytical methodology for the performance assessment of location privacy enhancing solutions is described.