Escrow Certificate Mechanism for Anonymous Telemetry Collection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Entities are reluctant to provide telemetry data due to concerns about disclosing sensitive information, leading to opt-out or non-participation, and existing methods fail to ensure anonymous yet traceable data collection.
Innovation Solution
An escrow mechanism that issues certificates or data identifying telemetry sources without revealing their identity, allowing verification of authenticity without disclosing source information, enabling anonymous and traceable telemetry data collection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If telemetry sources provide identifying information to ensure data authenticity, then data reliability is improved, but privacy protection deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a certificate authority (CA) as an intermediary that issues digital certificates to telemetry sources. These certificates serve as trusted intermediaries that verify source authenticity without revealing actual identities. The CA acts as a mediator between the telemetry source and collector, enabling authentication while maintaining anonymity through the certificate-based trust chain.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses digital certificates as copies or representations of source identity. Instead of transmitting actual identifying information, the system transmits certificate objects that contain verified authentication information. These certificate copies allow verification of source legitimacy without exposing the actual source identity, separating the authentication function from the identification function.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If telemetry sources remain anonymous to protect sensitive information, then privacy protection is improved, but data reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the authentication information into separate components: the actual source identity remains hidden, while the certificate containing verification credentials is transmitted separately. This segmentation allows the system to verify authenticity through the certificate while the source identity remains anonymous. The authentication function is separated from the identification function.
Solution Approach 2:
The digital certificate serves as an intermediary that enables authentication without direct identification. The certificate contains verified information about the source (such as a hash of the source identifier) that can be validated by the collector without revealing the actual source identity. This intermediary mechanism resolves the contradiction by providing trust without exposure.
3Measurement precision
If identifying information is collected to verify source quality, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of information increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a copy of the source identification information in the form of a digital certificate. This certificate contains a hash or representation of the source identifier that can be used for verification purposes. By working with this certificate copy rather than the actual source identity, the system achieves measurement precision for source quality verification while avoiding the loss or disclosure of sensitive identifying information.
Data Source
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AI summary
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to collecting anonymous and traceable telemetry. In aspects, a telemetry source may obtain a certificate or other data from an escrow certificate issuer. The certificate includes information usable by a certificate collector to verify that the certificate is valid, but does not include information usable to identify the telemetry source to the telemetry collector.