TC: Small: Understanding and Taming the Web's Privacy Footprint

International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

Over the past decade, the World-Wide Web has developed a unique ecosystem of third-party services, including advertisements, active content for web analytics, and tightly integrated application programming interfaces. These third-party tools collect large amounts of information, the scale and implications of which are largely unknown to the public and difficult to gauge even for even experts. The implication of users' web-surfing on their privacy has not previously been studied from the most natural perspective, namely that of the users themselves. This research aims to close this gap by focusing on users' actual web behavior, any existing countermeasures they employ to safeguard their privacy, the amount of information leaked, and the implications this has for the profiling capabilities of third-party services. To measure information leakage, real-world web-surfing traffic will be examined through an anonymized picture of each discernible user, including browser details, any countermeasures taken to safeguard his or her privacy, and the cookies, referrals, and web visits as observed by the third parties involved. Next, profiling strategies will be examined that reflect different vantage points and intent, mirroring the capabilities of third parties with access to information about the users' web surfing. Finally, a browser extension will be developed that not only informs users about the parties their current web-surfing is providing information to, but also actively minimizes privacy leaks via fine grained policy enforcement that allows third-party services to function correctly.