Are privacy advocates threatening the future of science?

Published on 2011-12-023165 Views

Abraham B. Hsuan

This talk will examine the current debate about how KDD research should be legally regulated, and what it means if privacy rights fail to be protected . . . and what it could mean if they are.

SiKDD 2011 - Ljubljana

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Presentation

Is Privacy Advocacy Threatening Science? (Because of a Fear of "Big Data")00:00

Explosion of data . . .00:09

With Big Data, the approach to science — theorize, model, test — is changing.00:46

Big Data poses new challenges for Privacy01:37

U.S. Courts often have hard time finding real "harm" in a classic economic sense02:57

Not to be mixed up with security breaches . . .03:59

Privacy is amorphous, multifaceted05:16

Harm has to be "legally cognizable", but . . .06:32

Prof. Latanya Sweeney‘s study of 1990 U.S. Census Data08:25

Sweeney picked an example to demonstrate09:55

So Sweeney goes looking for Weld11:04

HIPAA De-Identification Requirements Revised12:25

Privacy Advocates arguing all "Big Data"13:30

Challenge is that world is increasingly connected, making it easier to re-identify14:41

Netflix Challenge15:01

Turns out the dataset is very sparse . . .15:38

Even knowing only the movies rated, without the date of ratings . . .16:04

Netflix – IMDb mashup16:19

Netflix "blunder" is one of the most famously cited examples of a "data valdez" . . . but is it?16:55

Typical "data valdez" is a lost laptop or security hole but this AOL mishap expanded the definition17:59

BUT AOL failed to "clean" the search queries of PII18:58

Netflix is not a "data valdez" in the normally understood sense . . .19:41

"Data Valdez threat real?"20:17

And, compared to the past, data can be processed much (much!) faster . . .21:02

With networked PCs and mobile devices, publicly available "personal data" is growing exponentially21:33

Where all the data lives . . .21:43

Implicit message is that anyone and everyone exposed by simply how they use the Net22:28

Professor Paul Ohm speaks of a "Database of Ruin"23:04

. . . but is the answer to regulate based on a "Privacy Precautionary Principle"*23:59

The Chronicle - 125:23

Fine line26:50

The Chronicle - 227:06

IMS Health28:08

Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc.29:26

Many boundaries are dissolving and "old rules" no longer apply30:05

Everyone has the right to the protection30:44

. . . subjected to arbitrary interference . . .31:15

Legal definition of "arbitrary" . . .31:20

In America, the "right of privacy" born when . . .31:56

Frequency of the words "secrecy" versus "privacy" in books from 1890-200032:45

"Privacy" tends to come to fore33:07

Attitudes can take a long time to change33:23

Are we merely talking about another kind of "photograph" – that of our "digital shadow"?33:57

In the meantime . . .34:13

Technology will move faster than governments . . .34:58

When (Leg)islators run too far ahead . . .35:42

Thank You36:08