FAPS: A fair, autonomous and privacy-preserving scheme for big data exchange based on oblivious transfer, Ether cheque and smart contracts

Abstract

Decision-making plays an increasing important role in our digitalized society, and hence the need for trustworthy data. For example, in a traditional trading process, a trusted middle person generally helps to arbitrate any dispute between two or more parties involved in the trading. However, having such a trusted middle person can be labor-intensive, increases transaction costs, and lacks fairness during arbitration due to the subjectivity of the middle person. While we can avoid the need for a middle person using smart contract-based approaches, there are other limitations (e.g., fairness and privacy preservation) that need to be addressed. In this paper, we present a fair scheme for big data exchanging that allows buyers and sellers to autonomously and fairly complete transactions, without involving any third-party middle person. Specifically, our scheme uses smart contracts and oblivious transfer protocol, in combination with our proposed Ether cheque system. Smart contracts are used to achieve transaction fairness, autonomy and trading timing control. The oblivious transfer protocol helps us to preserve the privacy of transactions. We use Ether cheque to improve the fairness of the transaction and make the transaction more convenient. Also, our proposed approach can facilitate the identification of a cheating party.