this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
88 points (97.8% liked)
Privacy
1341 readers
16 users here now
Icon base by Lorc under CC BY 3.0 with modifications to add a gradient
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Anonymized data as a concept has always been a joke. With enough data points, the origin can usually be traced.
The design goal of anonimized data is that it is processed to explicitly disallow tracing. This means not only removing personally identifiable information but also disallow session data.
But the data itself can and does lead to tracking. Personalized online advertising isn't decided by magic.
Depends. Eg: If the goal is to show data about which vendors at a sports game got the most traffic, you can easily share data about how many people went to which vendor, and at which times, without there being any possibility to identify Joe getting a fifth hot dog.
If enough information about the original person is destroyed, it cannot be recreated. Just like how you can't enhance a picture like they do in those serialized crime shows.