A Framework for Privacy Preserving, Distributed Search Engine Using Topology of DLT and Onion Routing

Abstract

Risks regarding Internet privacy and security have been identified as issues for both new and experienced users of Internet technology. This paper explores the privacy and security threats in centralized search engines and proposes a decentralized search system. The proposed decentralized search system provides privacy and security for its users. The decentralized nature also provides transparency, distributed search and community-driven decisions in the proposed framework. We compare the proposed framework with the existing centralized approach. Our analysis shows that (1) there is no significant difference in search time between the centralized and proposed framework, and (2) the proposed framework is more efficient by providing search results with fewer search resources compared to the centralized approach.