Algorithm can pick out almost any American in supposedly anonymized databases

Post by doomjunky » Thu, Jul 25, 2019, 1:19 PM UTC

dalbasal wrote: post #64

rzwitserloot wrote: post #10

I'm a programmer in the GP data analysis world. We use the term 'pseudonymization' for this kind of data. 'Anonymization' is used solely to refer to, say, 'the sum total of diabetes patients this practice has' (that would be anonymous patient data; it would not be anonymous relative to the GP office this refers to): Aggregated data that can no longer be reduced to a single individual at all. The term raises questions…

A related/derivative concept that ties into the existing lexicon is name Vs pseudonym. Bitcoin for example, uses pseudonyms... not anonymity. A pen name or a hn username is a pseudonym. A voting system needs to be anonymous not pseudo-anonymous^, by using a pseudonym. If each voter had a secret number that is attached to each vote, that is a pseudonym. "L is 32 years old. She works as a nurse in Moscow." - L is a pse…