Trust and privacy management support for context-aware service platforms

Abstract

In a context-aware service platform, service providers adapt their services to the current situation of the service users using context information retrieved from context information providers. In such a service provisioning platform, important trust and privacy issues arise, because different entities responsible for different tasks have to collaborate in the provisioning of the services. Context information is privacy sensitive by nature, making the communication and processing of this information a potential privacy threat. The main goal of this thesis is to learn how to support users and providers of context-aware services in managing the trade-off between privacy protection and context-based service adaptation. More and more precise context information retrieved from trustworthy context information providers allows context-aware service provider to adapt their services more reliably. However, more and more precise context information also means a higher risk for the service users in case of a privacy violation.