Privacy-preserving IR

Abstract

Information retrieval (IR) and information privacy/security are two fast-growing computer science disciplines. There are many synergies and connections between these two disciplines. However, there have been very limited efforts to connect the two important disciplines. On the other hand, due to lack of mature techniques in privacy-preserving IR, concerns about information privacy and security have become serious obstacles that prevent valuable user data to be used in IR research such as studies on query logs, social media, tweets, and medical record retrieval. We propose this privacy-preserving IR workshop to connect the two disciplines of information retrieval and information privacy and security. We look forward to spurring research that aims to bring together the research fields of IR and privacy/security. Last year, the first privacy-preserving IR workshop focused on mitigating privacy threats in information retrieval by novel algorithms and tools that enable web users to better understand associated privacy risks.