Anonymization of set-valued data via top-down, local generalization

Abstract

Set-valued data, in which a set of values are associated with an individual, is common in databases ranging from market basket data, to medical databases of patients' symptoms and behaviors, to query engine search logs. Anonymizing this data is important if we are to reconcile the conflicting demands arising from the desire to release the data for study and the desire to protect the privacy of individuals represented in the data. Unfortunately, the bulk of existing anonymization techniques, which were developed for scenarios in which each individual is associated with only one sensitive value, are not well-suited for set-valued data. In this paper we propose a top-down, partition-based approach to anonymizing set-valued data that scales linearly with the input size and scores well on an information-loss data quality metric. We further note that our technique can be applied to anonymize the infamous AOL query logs, and discuss the merits and challenges in anonymizing query logs using our approach.