Challenges of data access and transport in a truly mobile world

Abstract form only given. Mobile devices already produce about 600 terabytes of data every month, through more than 1.5 million cellular base stations and 5 billion mobile phones. Moreover, the rate of data that is being produced is expected to grow exponentially over time. Mobile broadband is fast becoming an essential part of modern life. The ability to cater to this demand is severely hampered by the shortage of radio frequency spectrum. So apart from developing new technologies that use the spectrum efficiently, it is also necessary to make the mobile systems smarter. This talk will describe the techniques that are making systems smarter through the provision of user centered/personalized services and applications, and highlight one of the major challenges of designing such systems, namely preservation of privacy of the users. It will examine some of the recent recommender systems, personalized content delivery systems, and mobile applications to highlight the potential privacy threat these applications and services pose to users. Then it will outline some of the current solutions that are being proposed by the research community and provide discussion of one such approach - mobile service overlays - by focusing on the principles and practical considerations that went into the design of a privacy-preserving user generated content distribution system called mobitribe.