Evaluation of Privacy Enhancing Technologies

Anonymity, Privacy and Privacy Enhincing Technologies (PET) are the terms which are going to be discussed during the course of this project. The breakdown of the formal terminology and the theory will help the readers to follow the analysis of the existing implementations. The evaluation on the PETs will give some useful results that will be discussed in the conclusion. The primary goal of this project is the in depth study of existing PET implementations. This will help not only to understand their main functionalities, but also to classify them in categories. A further elaboration on the classification models will help the readers to understand the present and future needs, concerning the additional features that the PETs need to cover. To assess the effectiveness of an implementation, a series of tests will be conducted with the help of an existing web application as well as with a custom made test (fingerprinting). The web application will check the implementation's behavior by conducting tests in various potential vulnerable parts and the fingerprinting will test the user's uniqueness regarding to the traces, which are left behind. The results from the evaluation are going to be an essential guide for the users and will help them understand which implementation is suitable to their needs. Finally, the conclusion will give a broader point of view regarding the preservation of the user's anonymity. It is clear that there are anonymity systems which are not included in this project. This presents a good opportunity for a future research either in a wider perspective or by focusing on specific implementations