Pepper: High-bandwidth and Scalable Anonymous Broadcast with Cryptographic Privacy
About
We present Pepper, a high-bandwidth anonymous broadcast protocol that provides cryptographic sender anonymity against global adversaries. Pepper builds on a two-server DC-net architecture but introduces three key innovations: a self-contained anonymous registration subprotocol using verifiable distributed point functions, support for batch messaging via distributed multi-point functions, and a lightweight access control mechanism based on secret-shared proofs. Unlike prior systems, Pepper eliminates the need for external dialing services and allows each broadcaster to send multiple messages per epoch with a single audit, significantly improving throughput for large data transfers. Our implementation demonstrates that Pepper achieves millisecond-level registration audits, scales efficiently to thousands of channels, and delivers 1.2--20$\times$ higher effective messaging rates than state-of-the-art alternatives. Furthermore, Pepper is designed for practical deployment, with natural compatibility for co-deployment alongside Tor and federated social networks.
Related benchmarks
| Task | Dataset | Result | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| End-to-end file transmission | 1 MB file | Average Latency11.42 | 3 | |
| End-to-end file transmission | 10 MB file | Average Latency (h)1.79 | 3 | |
| End-to-end file transmission | 100 MB file | Average Latency (h)10.2 | 3 | |
| Communication Cost Analysis | Messaging Protocol | Proof Message Size (Client->Server) [bytes]1.95e+3 | 3 | |
| End-to-end file transmission | 100 KB file | Average Latency33.18 | 3 | |
| Communication Cost Analysis | Registration Protocol | Key Exchange Size (client->server) [bytes]262 | 3 | |
| Anonymous Broadcast | Centralized DC-net | -- | 1 |