Anonymous communication systems in P2P network with random agent nodes

Abstract

P2P networks provide a basic form of anonymity. The anonymity, however, breaks down at download/upload time because the IP address of the host from which the data is downloaded (or to which it is uploaded) can be known to the outside. We propose a technique to provide anonymity for both the client and the server node. A random node along the path between the client and the server node is selected as an agent node and works as a proxy: the client will see it as the server and the server looks at it as the client, hence protecting the identity of the client and the server from each other. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.