Pentagon Late Develop Online Privacy Tools

The research arm of the Pentagon is working on privacy tools allowing Internet users have more control over their private information, while the value of their online data can still be used. The Brandeis progam, named after Louis Dembitz Brandeis, the man who invented the concept of a right to privacy, it was announced this week and will be conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon.

The program will look at how users can understand data in their systems and the Internet, operate and manage. It is about simple intentions show a purpose, risks and benefits, such as "share photos only with approved family and friends." At this moment are existing methods for protecting private information broadly into two categories, namely filtering data at the source and the confidence of the party collecting the data.

The filtering of data at the source, such as the removal of a person's name or identity, and through the development of algorithms less and less protection. For example, researchers have shown that the combination of postcode and gender is sufficient to identify 87% of Americans by name. On the other hand, confidence in parties that collect data and should be protected, given the large number of data leaks, no solution.

"At present, consumers do not have effective ways to protect their own data, and the people with whom we share data are often not effective in protecting it," says DARPA program manager John Launchbury. "The purpose of the Brandeis program is to break the voltage between privacy and the use of the huge value of data." Instead of balancing privacy and data usage comes Brandeis with a third option, so data can be shared safely and predictably, while privacy is guaranteed.

Impact

According to DARPA Brandeis program the potential to have a major impact. As long as data privacy is assured, for example personalized medicines are developed, for example, by detecting correlations between genetic information and the effectiveness of various methods of treatment, or the development of smarter cities where there is more energy efficient and traffic is handled.

In the case of Internet companies and devices might share continuous data on cyber attacks resulting in a larger "Internet awareness" and creates more online protection. "Without strong privacy controls these possibilities could not fully be exploited," said DARPA. For the development of the program is earmarked 4.5 years, every 18 months part system is demonstrated.