Online users’ privacy is a delicate issue that has been unfortunately overlooked by technology corporations and the general public since the advent of the internet. Many online businesses and services such as web search engines, retailers, and social network sites exploit users’ data for profit. The data collected by these companies is often used for targeted advertisements and marketing. However, these companies claimed they maintain the user’s profile to deliver relevant and personalized results. Web search engines collect a wide range of information about the user and use that information to rank relevant search results according to the user’s interests and history. However, indiscriminately collecting and exploiting users’ information without their knowledge is an indecent act.
This book presents disciplinary, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary works on questions related to experiences and phenomena that can be covered by concepts regarding the protection of privacy of web service user. It highlights the importance of web search privacy to the readers to educate them on the recent developments. This book helps students and the research community understand the current status of the privacy-aware web search mechanisms and help identify new challenges in these areas.