Differential-trust-mechanism-based trade-off method between privacy and accuracy in recommender systems

In the era where Web3.0 values data security and privacy, adopting groundbreaking methods to enhance privacy in recommender systems is crucial. Recommender systems need to balance privacy and accuracy, while also having the ability to overcome cold start problems. The Differential Trust Mechanism (DTM) introduced in this paper is such an approach. The DTM provides a unique use of Gaussian distributions in modeling trust relationships within data, offering a novel way to balance recommendation accuracy with user privacy. This mechanism innovatively applies differential privacy principles, using Gaussian noise addition to protect individual user data from inference attacks, while maintaining the integrity and utility of the overall dataset. Unlike traditional anonymization techniques that often compromise data utility or vulnerability to reverse engineering, DTM provides a robust solution by dynamically adjusting privacy levels based on the trustworthiness of data requests. By combining DTM with existing mainstream recommendation algorithms, the prediction accuracy of MAE and RMSE increases by at least 6.60% and 2.69%, respectively. This dual benefit positions DTM as a significant advancement in secure data processing, especially relevant for online businesses and platforms where personalized recommendations are crucial yet privacy concerns are paramount.