Anonymity and cryptographic protocols

Jan 29, 1999

Abstract

We survey some cryptographic techniques for achieving electronic anonymity while performing useful tasks. Anonymous message broadcast, communication with untraceability of sender and receiver, foiling network traffic analysis, lead to the dining cryptographers problem and its variants. We also discuss anonymity of electronic money (i.e., without an audit trail --- unlike credit cards) and how to achieve it with cryptographic techniques like blind signatures, secret splitting, challenge-response techniques, etc. The talk is self-contained, and no previous background in this area is assumed.