Topic: Reidentification

[Clark Kent]

Ive heard of this before, I guess I just didn't realize that it was something that has been researched for so long.  Part of the article below, click the link for the rest.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/your-secrets-live-online-in-databases-of-ruin.ars

"Anonymized" data really isn't—and here's why not
Companies continue to store and sometimes release vast databases of "anonymized" information about users. But, as Netflix, AOL, and the State of Massachusetts have learned, "anonymized" data can often be cracked in surprising ways, revealing the hidden secrets each of us are assembling in online "databases of ruin."

The Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission had a bright idea back in the mid-1990s—it decided to release "anonymized" data on state employees that showed every single hospital visit. The goal was to help researchers, and the state spent time removing all obvious identifiers such as name, address, and Social Security number. But a graduate student in computer science saw a chance to make a point about the limits of anonymization.

Latanya Sweeney requested a copy of the data and went to work on her "reidentification" quest. It didn't prove difficult. Law professor Paul Ohm describes Sweeney's work:

At the time GIC released the data, William Weld, then Governor of Massachusetts, assured the public that GIC had protected patient privacy by deleting identifiers. In response, then-graduate student Sweeney started hunting for the Governor’s hospital records in the GIC data. She knew that Governor Weld resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city of 54,000 residents and seven ZIP codes. For twenty dollars, she purchased the complete voter rolls from the city of Cambridge, a database containing, among other things, the name, address, ZIP code, birth date, and sex of every voter. By combining this data with the GIC records, Sweeney found Governor Weld with ease. Only six people in Cambridge shared his birth date, only three of them men, and of them, only he lived in his ZIP code. In a theatrical flourish, Dr. Sweeney sent the Governor’s health records (which included diagnoses and prescriptions) to his office.

Boom! But it was only an early mile marker in Sweeney's career; in 2000, she showed that 87 percent of all Americans could be uniquely identified using only three bits of information: ZIP code, birthdate, and sex.

[The Postman]

And that is why birthdays have been removed from voter registration lists in Mass.

[candle_86]

this is why I hate being put into databases, all my information is avaibile to anyone

[Kreeargh]

    Sad sad  one has to add the data to any database otherwise it is illegal  to copy and transfer according to what laws i know to date if you posted your info its fair game but if it was suposed to be  a "secure area" then its illegal to sell or let that info be given out. Dont matter anyway they got us by the balls when it comes to pc privacy these days.

[candle_86]

lol so you think, my first name even on most medical paper work is a nickname, its also the name I go bye, I dont go by my birthname lol, and the doctors know this and dont really care. Most places that require a full name get my name i go by and a mispelled last name