Preserving privacy in communication and networking is of paramount importance in the Internet-of-Everything age of escalating surveillance and data collection. Anonymous communication is a cornerstone of this endeavor, enabling individuals to interact and exchange private information without disclosing their identities. However, achieving absolute security and privacy in classical anonymous networks (CANs) is highly challenging, and in particular, the advent of quantum computing poses critical threats to securing classical communication. In this article, we explore the evolution of CANs and delve into the distinctive shift from classical to quantum anonymous networks (QANs), emphasizing a substantial leap in privacy protected by quantum anonymous communication (QAC). The fundamental motivations behind this transition are rooted in the remarkable privacy attributes—e.g., complete anonymity and untraceability —of QAC protocols, as well as the unconditional security ensured by the principles of quantum mechanics. To make these concepts more tangible in practical settings and provide a benchmark to design the QAC protocols in QANs, we usher in exemplary protocols: quantum anonymous teleportation, voting, and information retrieval. In these case studies, we assess the fidelity and error rates of the QAC protocols in noisy environments, aiming to evaluate their robustness in practical quantum entangled settings. Moreover, we discuss the primary challenges and future research directions integral to the transition towards QANs.

中文翻译：

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量子匿名网络：隐私方面的量子飞跃


在监控和数据收集不断升级的万物互联时代，保护通信和网络隐私至关重要。匿名通信是这一努力的基石，使个人能够在不泄露身份的情况下互动和交换私人信息。然而，在经典匿名网络（CAN）中实现绝对的安全和隐私极具挑战性，特别是量子计算的出现对经典通信的安全构成了严重威胁。在本文中，我们探讨了 CAN 的演变，并深入研究了从经典网络到量子匿名网络 (QAN) 的独特转变，强调了量子匿名通信 (QAC) 保护隐私方面的重大飞跃。这种转变背后的根本动机植根于 QAC 协议卓越的隐私属性，例如完全匿名和不可追踪性，以及量子力学原理确保的无条件安全性。为了使这些概念在实际环境中更加具体，并为 QAN 中设计 QAC 协议提供基准，我们引入了示例性协议：量子匿名隐形传态、投票和信息检索。在这些案例研究中，我们评估了 QAC 协议在噪声环境中的保真度和错误率，旨在评估它们在实际量子纠缠环境中的鲁棒性。此外，我们还讨论了向 QAN 过渡所面临的主要挑战和未来的研究方向。