Privacy concerns remain at the forefront of online interactions in today’s digital landscape. Applications and websites, in their quest to understand user behavior, often gather vast amounts of personal data. But what if there were a way to collect important metrics without compromising user privacy? Divvi Up is a project by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), supported by the Internet Society Foundation, that aims to enhance the collection of privacy-respecting metrics.
Divvi Up is a privacy-respecting telemetry service for web, mobile, and machine-learning applications. Through advanced cryptography and multi-party computation, it aims to allow applications to access valuable aggregate insights without infringing on the privacy of individual users. Its mission is to foster a healthy, secure, and robust ecosystem for privacy-respecting metrics collection, setting a new standard for how data should be handled in the digital space.
In an interview for our Research Interview Series, Sarah Gran from Internet Security Research Group explains the scope of the project and the importance of creating strong partnerships with companies, funders, regulators, and human rights organizations.
The Challenge: Invasive User Metrics
Gran explains the existing dilemma: “Applications of all sorts—web, browsers, and mobile apps—benefit from user metrics to improve their services. But this data collection often invades people’s privacy.” Many applications don’t need to capture data at an individual level; they simply require a high-level understanding of user trends. Yet, the pervasive collection of granular data poses risks, from breaches to misuse by malicious actors.
The Divvi Up project, initiated in 2020, offers a solution: aggregate and anonymized metrics. By collecting only essential information, applications can mitigate data-related risks. As Gran highlights, “The goal is to give applications what they need to know without invading user privacy.” This approach reduces the potential for data breaches and fosters greater trust between users and digital platforms.
Divvi Up’s origins are rooted in necessity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ISRG developed a privacy-respecting metric service for exposure notification apps. This experience underscored the importance of secure, anonymized data collection. Building on that foundation, Divvi Up has expanded its scope. Supported by the Internet Society Foundation, the team has developed standards through the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), launched a user portal, and formed strategic partnerships to make privacy-first metrics a reality.
Collaboration is key to Divvi Up’s success. Two notable partnerships highlight the project’s impact. Mozilla, a privacy and open-source technology pioneer, uses Divvy Up to gather metrics for its Firefox browser. With aspirations to scale from millions to billions of metrics, Mozilla provides crucial insights to optimize Divvy Up for widespread use.
The second partnership, with a human rights nonprofit, emphasizes the life-or-death significance of privacy. Gran notes, “For human rights defenders, a privacy breach could endanger lives.” This collaboration demonstrates Divvi Up’s potential to serve organizations with limited resources, ensuring robust data protection without the need for extensive engineering capabilities.
Why Privacy Matters: Building a Trustworthy Internet
Gran emphasizes that privacy is not just a feature but a fundamental right. Privacy must be embedded at the infrastructure level for a truly open and functional Internet. “In order to have an Internet that isn’t governed by government or corporations, there has to be a commitment to privacy,” she asserts.
While there is growing momentum around privacy legislation, it often lags behind technological advancements. Gran believes that both policy and self-regulation are crucial. As privacy awareness increases, applications must proactively integrate solutions. However, she states that policy frameworks must also evolve to safeguard users in this data-driven era.
The Internet Society Foundation proudly supports transformative projects like Divvi Up through its Research Grant Program. You can learn more about the program here, and you can also find other interesting interviews here.