Truth, Justice, and Secrecy: Cake Cutting Under Privacy Constraints

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Salman, Yaron, Tassa, Tamir, Lev, Omer, Zivan, Roie
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Salman, Yaron
Tassa, Tamir
Lev, Omer
Zivan, Roie
author_facet Salman, Yaron
Tassa, Tamir
Lev, Omer
Zivan, Roie
contents Cake-cutting algorithms, which aim to fairly allocate a continuous resource based on individual agent preferences, have seen significant progress over the past two decades. Much of the research has concentrated on fairness, with comparatively less attention given to other important aspects. Chen et al. (2010) introduced an algorithm that, in addition to ensuring fairness, was strategyproof -- meaning agents had no incentive to misreport their valuations. However, even in the absence of strategic incentives to misreport, agents may still hesitate to reveal their true preferences due to privacy concerns (e.g., when allocating advertising time between firms, revealing preferences could inadvertently expose planned marketing strategies or product launch timelines). In this work, we extend the strategyproof algorithm of Chen et al. by introducing a privacy-preserving dimension. To the best of our knowledge, we present the first private cake-cutting protocol, and, in addition, this protocol is also envy-free and strategyproof. Our approach replaces the algorithm's centralized computation with a novel adaptation of cryptographic techniques, enabling privacy without compromising fairness or strategyproofness. Thus, our protocol encourages agents to report their true preferences not only because they are not incentivized to lie, but also because they are protected from having their preferences exposed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_09882
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Truth, Justice, and Secrecy: Cake Cutting Under Privacy Constraints
Salman, Yaron
Tassa, Tamir
Lev, Omer
Zivan, Roie
Computer Science and Game Theory
Multiagent Systems
Cake-cutting algorithms, which aim to fairly allocate a continuous resource based on individual agent preferences, have seen significant progress over the past two decades. Much of the research has concentrated on fairness, with comparatively less attention given to other important aspects. Chen et al. (2010) introduced an algorithm that, in addition to ensuring fairness, was strategyproof -- meaning agents had no incentive to misreport their valuations. However, even in the absence of strategic incentives to misreport, agents may still hesitate to reveal their true preferences due to privacy concerns (e.g., when allocating advertising time between firms, revealing preferences could inadvertently expose planned marketing strategies or product launch timelines). In this work, we extend the strategyproof algorithm of Chen et al. by introducing a privacy-preserving dimension. To the best of our knowledge, we present the first private cake-cutting protocol, and, in addition, this protocol is also envy-free and strategyproof. Our approach replaces the algorithm's centralized computation with a novel adaptation of cryptographic techniques, enabling privacy without compromising fairness or strategyproofness. Thus, our protocol encourages agents to report their true preferences not only because they are not incentivized to lie, but also because they are protected from having their preferences exposed.
title Truth, Justice, and Secrecy: Cake Cutting Under Privacy Constraints
topic Computer Science and Game Theory
Multiagent Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.09882