The benefits of open networked environments in an increasingly connected world are visible all around us: widely available social networking sites, the ubiquity of mobile devices, and the emergence of cloud computing infrastructures are but a few examples that speak to the breadth and significance of these diverse communication mediums. Without question, society as a whole, today, is now able to communicate like never before. Yet, despite all of the benefits there is cause for concern given the ever-greater frequency of data protection violations, breaches of privacy, and fraud. Users want to have confidence in the usage of these networked systems and applications; they rightfully demand a protection of their personal data and the ability to safely engage in transactions in the virtual space.

The TUNER project aims to mitigate the risks involved in this and to alleviate the pressure by conducting R&D in a number of trust related matters. In particular, we are concerned about the trust users place in their computing and communication environments, the trust they place when interacting with other parties (be they individuals or online service providers), and the trust users place in information quality. Within the project we do not only investigate the technological challenges, but we will also examine the sociological issues and consider the relevant legal frameworks on a national, as well as international level.

To implement these goals we will employ trust formalization techniques to create trust models, which can then be used to specify trust requirements of services, be subjected to runtime trust monitoring and matched with individual trust policies. The project’s research results will be used for the creation of an open-source platform that supports the development of trustworthy service environments.

The outcomes of the TUNER project will be of interest to numerous parties, including those who are responsible for legal and regulatory oversight, ICT vendors and developers, policy makers, trust researchers, and the marketing community, among others.