MONOLOGUE: A Tool for Negotiating Exchanges of Private Information in E-Commerce

The MONOLOGUE system (Multi-Object Negotiator for On-Line Offers Guided by Utility Elicitation) for privacy negotiation is described. It integrates a number of innovative components. Negotiations are alternating offers, where each offer may have multiple attributes which can be scalar-, discreteor set-valued, and so are general enough to allow P3P statements to be negotiated. It relies on the PrivacyPact protocol, which ensures that a mutually acceptable deal, if present, will be found. The utility of private information is elicited from the user by posing questions, bearing in mind the bother cost of asking. Several negotiation strategies are available. MONOLOGUE analyses the opponent’s responses to classify the opponent; better knowledge of the opponent can help to find mutually acceptable agreements. Experiments with simple strategies show that negotiations can converge to an agreement quite quickly.