Real-time mixes: A bandwidth-efficient anonymity protocol

Abstract

We present techniques for efficient anonymous communication with real-time constraints as necessary for services like telephony, where a continuous data stream has to be transmitted. For concreteness, we present the detailed protocols for the narrow-band ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), although the heart of our techniques - anonymous channels - can also be applied to other networks. For ISDN, we achieve the same data rate as without anonymity, using the same subscriber lines and without any significant modifications to the long-distance network. A precise performance analysis is given. Our techniques are based on mixes, a method for anonymous communication for e-mail-like services introduced by D. Chaum.