Privacy-preserving IR: when information retrieval meets privacy and security

Information retrieval (IR) and information privacy/security are two fast-growing computer science disciplines. There are many synergies and connections between these two disciplines. However, there have been very limited efforts to connect the two important disciplines. On the other hand, due to lack of mature techniques in privacy-preserving IR, concerns about information privacy and security have become serious obstacles that prevent valuable user data to be used in IR research such as studies on query logs, social media, tweets, sessions, and medical record retrieval. This privacy-preserving IR workshop aims to spur research that brings together the research fields of IR and privacy/security, and research that mitigates privacy threats in information retrieval by constructing novel algorithms and tools that enable web users to better understand associated privacy risks.