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>The zip code was intentionally not anonymized because it was seen as acceptable to release, and that is part of the issue of anonymized data. Forgive me for a

• AdamSC1 10y ago
  So there is the version of "anonymized" that most companies currently use which is as you say 'depersonalized' - they remove your personal information and think it is safe, but data is still tied together in unique records. (i.e. your name is replaced with an ID number) Then there is actually 'anonymized' data which would be the release of data in which you cannot in anyway identify a user. An example that comes to mind for me is the census releasing aggregate stats such as "14% of American's speak language X." If the census instead had records of each American line by line, listing which language they speak and other associated factors about them then this data is likely to paint a unique picture of the individual even if their personal information like name and address were removed. I think most data is very hard, if not impossible, to truly anonymize. Even if the search history that gets sold wasn't broken out into history per tuple/record, then you could still identify at least a few trends in it. Does that make more sense? But yes, I agree that these companies are more attempting to 'de-personalize' data for the sake of research, but, that is far from anonymous and naming it as such is misleading to the public.