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Some people from the first dataset were deanonymized. Given age, gender, & zip code is enough to identify 87% of the US. See http://arstechnica.com/tech-polic

Some people from the first dataset were deanonymized. Given age, gender, & zip code is enough to identify 87% of the US. See http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/netflix-prize-2-privacy-apocalypse-now.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/netflix-priz... and its links.

nlabs 17y ago
Yes the issue is Netflix's liability. The reason it can be de-anomized is because people reveal more info in some other database (for example idbm) - if people willingly reveal more info in some other db, is that netflix's fault?
- lftl 17y ago
  Yes, it's netflix's fault unless they clearly obtain permission from people to share information that their customers could naturally assume was private. As stated elsewhere Netflix should just have a clear opt-in for sharing the data and we can continue on.
  - nlabs 17y ago
    Maybe its somewhere in Netflix's terms of service that data on users movie preferences will be collected, however this information will be kept anonymous (as best as can be done by netflix).
    - lftl 17y ago
      It is. They mention in their privacy policy that they may disclose anonymized histories, so they might have a decent legal leg to stand on. I don't think this helps them much in court of public opinion, and it helps even less in not pissing off a segment of their customers. Making it opt-in seems like an easy compromise. The only downside I see is if they get a really low response rate.
      - nlabs 17y ago
        they could incentivize it with reduced monthly rates.
nopassrecover 17y ago
I'm assuming you mean given name - why would this be included in the data set in the first place? Is there some significant correlation between names and movie preferences?
- lftl 17y ago
  http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/paul/netflixs-impending-still-avoidable-multi-million-dollar-privacy-blunder http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/paul/netflixs-impendin... This post, which is linked from the ARS article states a given birthdate, gender, and zip code can uniquely identify most Americans. So, while the parent should probably specify birthdate instead of age, a name is definitely not needed.
  - nopassrecover 17y ago
    Ah, birthdate makes much more sense. My confusion stemmed from misreading the comment as "using these properties: [given age](?), [gender], [zip code]" instead of "given these properties: [age], [gender], [zip code]".

nlabs 17y ago

Yes the issue is Netflix's liability. The reason it can be de-anomized is because people reveal more info in some other database (for example idbm) - if people willingly reveal more info in some other db, is that netflix's fault?

lftl 17y ago
Yes, it's netflix's fault unless they clearly obtain permission from people to share information that their customers could naturally assume was private. As stated elsewhere Netflix should just have a clear opt-in for sharing the data and we can continue on.
- nlabs 17y ago
  Maybe its somewhere in Netflix's terms of service that data on users movie preferences will be collected, however this information will be kept anonymous (as best as can be done by netflix).
  - lftl 17y ago
    It is. They mention in their privacy policy that they may disclose anonymized histories, so they might have a decent legal leg to stand on. I don't think this helps them much in court of public opinion, and it helps even less in not pissing off a segment of their customers. Making it opt-in seems like an easy compromise. The only downside I see is if they get a really low response rate.
    - nlabs 17y ago
      they could incentivize it with reduced monthly rates.

nopassrecover 17y ago

I'm assuming you mean given name - why would this be included in the data set in the first place? Is there some significant correlation between names and movie preferences?

lftl 17y ago
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/paul/netflixs-impending-still-avoidable-multi-million-dollar-privacy-blunder http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/paul/netflixs-impendin... This post, which is linked from the ARS article states a given birthdate, gender, and zip code can uniquely identify most Americans. So, while the parent should probably specify birthdate instead of age, a name is definitely not needed.
- nopassrecover 17y ago
  Ah, birthdate makes much more sense. My confusion stemmed from misreading the comment as "using these properties: [given age](?), [gender], [zip code]" instead of "given these properties: [age], [gender], [zip code]".