Benchmarking Differential Privacy and Existing Anonymization or De-identification Guidance
Organization
University of Ottawa
Published
2024
Project Leader(s)
Rafal Kulik
Summary
The project consisted of three phases. The first focused on technical aspects of differential privacy. Researchers were able to conclude that there is an important lack in consistency and consensus on a proper definition for differential privacy. Researchers determined a suitable language and identified opportunities, challenges and limitations when implementing differential privacy within existing frameworks. These challenges were grouped into 3 themes: technical implementation, privacy and utility trade off, and disclosure risks.
In the second, exploratory phase researchers conducted several experiments to delve deeper into the intricacies of differential privacy. Phase 2 allowed us to answer fundamental questions about the relationship between the main techniques (pre-processing and post-processing), differential privacy in a data privacy and data utility context, the relationship to other data privacy concepts. Researchers also concluded that some standard statistical techniques cannot be used in the context of assessing data privacy and data utility.
The third part of the project examined how differential privacy can be integrated with legal requirements in PIPEDA and in the proposed Bill C-27. Although there has been considerable development of privacy-enhancing technologies that go beyond anonymization, their relationship to the concept of anonymization in data protection law is not always clear. Currently, there are no clear guidelines that explain how differential privacy may be aligned with the concept of anonymization in privacy law or how it might relate to the relative approach to anonymization developed in Canadian case law. The report provided a set of guidelines that could be potentially implemented in legislation.
Project deliverables are available in the following language(s):
English
OPC Funded Project
This project received funding support through the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s Contributions Program. The opinions expressed in the summary and report(s) are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Summaries have been provided by the project authors. Please note that the projects appear in their language of origin.
Contact Information
Rafal Kulik
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Ottawa
150 Louis Pasteur St.
Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5
Email: rkulik@uottawa.ca
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