About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

57 UCLA L. Rev. 1701 (2009-2010)
Broken Promises of Privacy: Responding to the Surprising Failure of Anonymization

handle is hein.journals/uclalr57 and id is 1713 raw text is: BROKEN PROMISES OF PRIVACY: RESPONDING TO THE SURPRISING FAILURE OF ANONYMIZATION Paul Ohm Computer scientists have recently undermined our faith in the privacy- protecting power of anonymization, the name for techniques that protect the privacy of individuals in large databases by deleting information like names and social security numbers. These scientists have demonstrated that they can often reidentify or deanonymize individuals hidden in anonymized data with astonishing ease. By understanding this research, we realize we have made a mistake, labored beneath a fundamental misunderstanding, which has assured us much less privacy than we have assumed. This mistake pervades nearly every information privacy law, regulation, and debate, yet regulators and legal scholars have paid it scant attention. We must respond to the surprising failure of anonymization, and this Article provides the tools to do so. IN TRO DU CTIO N ................................................................................................................. 1703 I. ANONYMIZATION AND REIDENTIFICATION .............................................................. 1706 A . The Past: Robust Anonym ization .................................................................... 1706 1. U biquitous A nonym ization ....................................................................... 1707 a. The Anonymization/Reidentification Model ................................... 1707 * Associate Professor, University of Colorado Law School. This Article was presented at the Privacy Law Scholars Conference and at conferences and faculty workshops at Harvard's Center for Research and Computer Science and Berkman Center, Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy, Fordham University Center for Law and Information Policy, University of Washington School of Law, University of Washington's Computer Science & Engineering Department, NYU Information Law Institute, DePaul Center for IP Law and Information Technology, International Association of Privacy Professionals Global Privacy Summit, and the University of Colorado Law School. I thank all participants for their comments. Thanks in particular to Caspar Bowden, Ramon Caceres, Ryan Calo, Deborah Cantrell, Danielle Citron, Nestor Davidson, Pierre de Vries, Vasant Dhar, Cynthia Dwork, Jed Ela, Ed Felten, Victor Fleischer, Susan Freiwald, Brett Frischmann, Michael Froomkin, Simson Garfinkel, Lauren Gelman, Eric Goldman, James Grimmelmann, Mike Hintze, Chris Hoofnagle, Clare Huntington, Jeff Jonas, Jerry Kang, Nancy Kim, Jon Kleinberg, Sarah Krakoff, Tim Lee, William McGeveran, Deven McGraw, Viva Moffat, Tyler Moore, Arvind Narayanan, Helen Nissenbaum, Scott Peppett, Jules Polonetsky, Foster Provost, Joel Reidenberg, Ira Rubinstein, Andrew Schwartz, Ari Schwartz, Vitaly Shmatikov, Chris Soghoian, Dan Solove, Latanya Sweeney, Peter Swire, Salil Vadhan, Michael Waggoner, Phil Weiser, Rebecca Wright, Felix Wu, and Michael Zimmer for their comments. This research was supported by a pre-tenure research leave grant by the University of Colorado Law School, and for this I thank Dean David Getches and Associate Dean Dayna Matthew. Finally, I thank my research assistant, Jerry Green. 1701

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most