Invoking mutual anonymity by electing to become head of a return path

#This invention relates generally to network systems. More particularly, the invention relates to invoking mutual anonymity in a network system.

#A conventional system of peers (or network nodes) interconnected via a network provides a relatively convenient means of exchanging information between the peers. However, conventional network systems may be vulnerable to malicious users. For example, malicious users may determine the types of information stored at specific peers by monitoring the network traffic. This may be problematic if one or more of the peers are sources of sensitive information.

#Most existing anonymity techniques are for client/server models, which only hide the identities of the requestor (clients) from the servers. Some recent techniques have addressed the problem of enforcing the mutual anonymity between a requestor and responder in a peer-to-peer (“P2P”) environment. One technique to substantially increase privacy in a P2P network system is to configure each peer such that it only knows a limited number of other peers. Accordingly, the identity of each peer is hidden from the other network nodes. However, this technique may suffer from some drawbacks and disadvantages. For instance, a peer may have to blindly broadcast its anonymous request for information to a large number of the peers. As a result, each peer receiving the request may search for the requested information. A majority of the peers may not have the requested information but are still required to process the request, and thereby, waste computational time.

#Various features of the present invention can be more fully appreciated as the same become better understood with reference to the following detailed description of the present invention when considered in connection with the accompanying figures, in which:

#FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system where an embodiment of the invention may be practiced;

#FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary architecture for a peer in the system shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

#For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of the present invention are described by referring mainly to exemplary embodiments thereof. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that the same principles are equally applicable to, and can be implemented in, all types of network systems, and that any such variations do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Moreover, in the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying figures, which illustrate specific embodiments in which the present invention may be practiced. Electrical, mechanical, logical and structural changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

#In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a peer privacy module may be utilized to increase the privacy of peers exchanging information in a network system. More particularly, the network system comprises a plurality of peers and a network providing a channel for communication among the peers. In the network system, a requestor peer may request information from another peer by forming (or instantiating) a request message. The requester peer may then forward the request message to a randomly selected peer. The selected peer may return a retrieval message in response to receipt of the request message.

#A peer privacy module executing on a peer may be configured to determine whether an incoming message is a retrieval message or a request message. More particularly, the peer privacy module may compare the format of the incoming message with a retrieval message type and a request message type. If the incoming message is a retrieval message, the peer privacy module may be configured to compare the incoming message against any previously stored request messages.