Re:Facebook, Google Fund Nonprofits Shaping Privacy Debate
by michaelt on Monday November 18, 2019 @11:23AM
(#21565508)
I'm skeptical as to whether robust anonymisation is possible, given the incentives involved.
After all, the data is more valuable the more bits there are per patient record, for researchers to find correlations - and the more bits there are, the easier it is to de-anonymise. Especially as you never know how many bits of data are already public about a given individual.
And given that they're releasing the data to make a profit, or to advance research, anyone doing this has an incentive to release more bits - and no incentive to release fewer bits.
After all, the data is more valuable the more bits there are per patient record, for researchers to find correlations - and the more bits there are, the easier it is to de-anonymise. Especially as you never know how many bits of data are already public about a given individual.
And given that they're releasing the data to make a profit, or to advance research, anyone doing this has an incentive to release more bits - and no incentive to release fewer bits.