- Several researchers came up with a new method of exchange of locations
- The method maintains user privacy by sharing relevant data
- It could have great implications in all industries
Researchers have created a new method to “try” where you are, without having to share confidential location data.
If adopted, the method could have important implications for companies such as travel or delivery, intelligent cities and public transport, or advertising and digital marketing.
The document, recently presented at the IEEE 2025 Symposium on Security and Privacy, was written by the authors Jens Ernstberger (Technical University of Munich), Chengru Zhang (University of Hong Kong), Luca Ciprian (Technical University of Munich), Philipp Jovanovic (University College London) and Sebastian Steinhors (Technical University of Munich). It is called “privacy of zero knowledge location through precise floating point sarcas.”
How does it work and what are the disadvantages?
Simplified, it works like this: instead of revealing its exact location (as is the case today), the user creates a cryptographic commitment (essentially, the data is blocked behind a cryptographic key). The data cannot be changed, but they cannot be seen by third parties.
Then, the device executes a zero knowledge test algorithm, which shows that the data blocked behind the Crypto key are precise. Ultimately, the verifier (which can be an application or a server) verifies the zero knowledge test, and due to cryptographic properties, can confirm with confidence that the location meets the condition without seeing the exact coordinates.
The key limitation of the method is that it does not inherently guarantee the authenticity of the location data. Since the system is based on the device, or the user, to provide location data first, it can still be falsified (if GPS data is false, for example).
In the document, the researchers proposed a solution to verify that a location test is not forged, which implies network communication with a third party (for example, the signals of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS)). In that case, the data on where the device says that it is found would no longer be interactive.
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