Geolocation and Homomorphic Encryption

Geolocation and Homomorphic Encryption – Nicholas Doiron

Abstract

How often are apps asking for your location? Lat/lng coordinates reveal a lot about you, but we share them every day with web services to look up our location and find nearby businesses.

What if it were possible to encrypt the coordinates which we were searching, and a web service could find results for us anyway? This talk shows sample code of homomorphic encryption being used in geo/location searches (Paillier cryptosystem, JavaScript and Python), and potential futures for private geodata.

Bio

Nick is a web developer and mapmaker currently at McKinsey & Company’s New York City office. Previously he worked at One LaptoMp per Child, Code for America, and the Museum of Modern Art.