The information disclosure trilemma: Privacy, attribution and dependency

• Main Author: KE, Ping Fan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2019
• Subjects: information disclosure; privacy; attribution; dependency; privacy-enhancing technologies; Blockchain; ring signature; witness encryption; design science; Information Security
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/4727; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/5730/viewcontent/WISP2019_paper_22.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Information disclosure has been an important mechanism to increase transparency and welfare in various contexts, from rating a restaurant to whistleblowing the wrongdoing of government agencies. Yet, the author often needs to be sacrificed during information disclosure process – an anonymous disclosure will forgo the reputation and compensation whereas an identifiable disclosure will face the threat of retaliation. On the other hand, the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) lessens the tradeoff between privacy and attribution while introducing dependency and potential threats. This study will develop the desirable design principles and possible threats of an information disclosure system, and discuss how the existing designs and technologies could address the design principles.