Privacy-Enhanced Personalisation Of Web Search

In personalised search, user information needs captured through cookies and Web search history for example, make it possible to infer personal or sensitive information about a person. Although prior studies have established sources of privacy leakage on the Web, there is a need for identifying the sources of data leakage concerning personalised search, its impact on users and on the broader privacy laws and regulations. This research study firstly explores the significance of attributes impacting personalised search and considers whether the extensive collection of personal data is necessary for personalised search results through a series of experiments measuring the impact of personalisation and sources of data leakage. These findings will then be evaluated two-fold: through a qualitative study of users, and assessed for its applicability in the Australian context as per the Australian Privacy Principles. Further, the outcomes from the experimental and user studies will be used to develop a Privacy-Enhancing Technology (PET) that will provide users with options to control personal data leakage whilst searching on the Web and enable proactive protection of individual user privacy.