ENHANCING ANONYMITY: CRYPTOGRAPHIC AND STATISTICAL APPROACHES FOR SHREDDING OUR DIGITAL DOSSIERS

摘要

Various technologies for enhancing anonymity are available. The benefits of anonymity vary from situation to situation-in many cases, anonymity provides a level of privacy for the individual (for example, to browse the web without being tracked or to remain unidentified within a sensitive dataset); in other cases, anonymity could prevent coercion or retribution for certain actions (including whistleblowing or casting a ballot for a particular candidate). Anonymity can, of course, also be detrimental (when used, for example, to commit crimes or spread hate). The balance between enabling privacy and reducing accountability is central to the debate over anonymity's role in society, and I do not attempt to resolve that here. However, the variety of methods for collecting data and tracing our actions is only increasing, while the usage of collected data is becoming less visible, both due to the vast technological improvements in harvesting, storing, transmitting, and analyzing large datasets. At the very least, anonymity enables us to roll back the clock on pervasive surveillance and tracking while we determine the most optimal outcome for society.