Private surveys with Sharemind
Why are private surveys relevant?
High quality of the source data is critical for achieving a high quality in statistical results. However, people are reluctant in providing straight answers when the questions involve personal information. The organization who gathers the data needs to build a strong trust relationship with the providers of the data. The security guarantees of Sharemind can help in building these relations.
How to privately collect data?
Sharemind provides perfect data collection security for desktop applications that use its controller library. Secret sharing guarantees that the input values do not leave the data entry computer in their original form. Now Sharemind can also be used to gather private data on the web, thanks to technology developed within the STACC subproject.
We created a web application framework for building Sharemind-compatible surveys on the web. We provide techniques for performing secret sharing in the browser of the user and sending the shares securely to the Sharemind miners. Computer users are accustomed to the web browser and they may be more willing to participate in an application if it does not require them to install additional software.
Demonstration
We have set up a live demonstration of the technology. An example survey feeds a report generation application and all of it is powered by Sharemind.