Towards an Architecture for Balancing Privacy and Traceability in Ubiquitous Computing Environments

Privacy preservation has been identified as an important factor to the success and acceptance of ubiquitous computing systems. Traceability, i. e. attributing events and actions to those who caused them, seems to be a directly contradicting goal. However, harnessing sensitive data collected by ubiquitous computing infrastructures for traceability applications in a privacy-respecting manner may clearly bring further benefits, for different concerned parties. Automated working hours recording and personalized insurances are first examples of such applications. To contribute to this matter, this paper presents an architecture that allows for balancing between privacy and traceability in ubiquitous computing environments. We describe its foundations and components and illustrate its benefits. Moreover, we discuss important existing research approaches on privacy protection and traceability applications in ubiquitous computing settings.