Revisiting Reachability Management as a Multilateral Security Mechanism

Mobile communications are becoming ever more pervasive in our environment today. However, the decentralised nature of the technology makes achieving security and trust a considerable challenge. On the one hand, people are increasingly dependent on being reachable for communication purposes; on the other hand, they place a high value on security and personal privacy. These conflicting requirements have been discussed in reachability management literature. In essence, reachability management aims to provide users with control over their communications in such a way that their right to personal privacy and security is honoured. At the time when the concept was introduced, certain technical and usability difficulties existed. In this paper the authors, firstly, re-examine the motivation and requirements for reachability management. Secondly, they investigate the opportunities introduced by changes in technology, while also reflecting on changes in the social setting underlying the implementation of reachability management systems.