- More researchers came with a new method of sharing location
- The method keeps users’ privacy while sharing relevant data
- It could have major consequences across industries
Researchers have come up with a new method to “prove” where you are located, without actually having to share sensitive location data.
If adopted, the method can have major consequences for companies such as riding sharing or delivery, smart cities and public transport or digital advertising and marketing.
The paper, recently presented at the IEEE SYMPOSIE 2025 on security and privacy, was prepared by authors Jens Ernstberger (Technical University of Munich), Chengru Zhang (University of Hong Kong), Luca Ciprian (Technical University of Munich), Philipp Jovanovic (University College London) Mune). It is called “zero-knowledge placement privacy via accurate floating point snarks”.
How it works and what are the disadvantages?
Simplified, it works like this: Instead of revealing their exact location (as is the case today), the user creates a cryptographic commitment (essentially the data is locked behind a cryptotast). The data cannot be changed, but cannot be seen by third parties either.
Then the device runs a zero-knowledge evidence algorithm, proving that the data locked behind the cryptotast is accurate. Ultimately, the verifier (which can be an app or a server) checks the zero-knowledge, and due to the cryptographic properties, they can certainly confirm that the location meets the condition without ever seeing the exact coordinates.
The most important limitation of the method is that it does not by nature guarantee the authenticity of the location data. Since the system is dependent on the device or user to deliver the location data in the first place, it can still be falsified (for example, the GPS data is false).
In the paper, researchers suggested a solution to verify that a placement certificate is not forged, involving network communication with a third party (for example, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals). In this case, data on where the device would say they are located would no longer be non-interactive.
Via Registered
