Distributing private data in challenged network environments

Developing countries face significant challenges in network access, making even simple network tasks unpleasant. Many standard techniques—caching and predictive prefetching— help somewhat, but provide little or no assistance for personal data that is needed only by a single user. Sulula addresses this problem by leveraging the near-ubiquity of cellular phones able to send and receive simple SMS messages. Rather than visit a kiosk and fetch data on demand— a tiresome process at best—users request a future visit. If capacity exists, the kiosk can schedule secure retrieval of that user’s data, saving time and more efficiently utilizing the kiosk’s limited connectivity. When the user arrives at a provisioned kiosk, she need only obtain the session key on-demand, and thereafter has instant access. In addition, Sulula allows users to schedule data uploads. Experimental results show significant gains for the end user, saving tens of minutes of time for a typical email/news read...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: WWW
• Authors: Azarias Reda, Brian D. Noble, Yidnekachew Haile
• Keywords: Computer Communication Networks, Internet Technology, Limited Connectivity, Personal Data, WWW 2010