Document Type	Doctoral Thesis
Author	Brandi, Wesley Antonio
URN	etd-07222011-052805
Document Title	In search of search privacy
Degree	PhD
Department	Computer Science
Supervisor	Advisor Name Title Prof M S Olivier Committee Chair
Keywords	search privacy search engines online privacy
Date	2011-09-07
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Search engines have become integral to the way in which we use the Web of today. Not only are they an important real time source of links to relevant information, but they also serve as a starting point to the Web. A veritable treasure trove of the latest news, satellite images, directions from anywhere to anywhere, local traffic updates and global trends ranging from the spread of influenza to which celebrity happens to be the most popular at a particular time. The more popular search engines are collecting incredible amounts of information. In addition to indexing significant portions of the Web they record what hundreds of millions of users around the world are searching for. As more people use a particular search engine, it has the potential to record more information on what is deemed relevant (and in doing so provide better relevance in the future, thereby attracting more users). Unfortunately, the relevance derived from this cycle between the search user and the search engine comes at a cost: privacy. In this work, we take an in depth look at what privacy means within the context of search. We discuss why it is that the search engine must be considered a threat to search privacy. We then investigate potential solutions and eventually propose our own in a bid to enhance search privacy. © 2011 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Brandi, WA 2011, In search of search privacy, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07222011-052805 / > B11/9/56/ag
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