A client-side privacy framework for web personalization

Abstract

Personalization of web applications is the complex process of dynamically rendering the application responsive to the unique needs of individual users. Nevertheless, the information required for achieving the personalization procedures is usually gathered and stored beyond the user's control. This is a situation that raises serious privacy concerns to the end-users and may drive them to reject the application. For example, when browsing an adaptive e-commerce website, users are not aware which behavior will be monitored and logged, how it will be processed, how long it will be stored, and with whom it will be shared in the long run, thus they may hesitate to visit the website. In this chapter after an introduction to the state of the art in privacy preserving personalized web applications we present an abstract architecture that enables users to fine-tune their privacy level (and in result their personalization experience) according to the trust they put on different applications. Since the data is stored on the client side, this approach by definition enhances user privacy. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.