Thanks for the mention. Unfortunately, all too often regulators and Government agencies take the wrong lessons from de-anonymization -- remove data altogether,

Thanks for the mention. Unfortunately, all too often regulators and Government agencies take the wrong lessons from de-anonymization -- remove data altogether, try to ban de-anonymization, etc. [1] I'm actually visiting D.C. right now with my policy hat on. In this case, I think we should be having a conversation about whether doctors' right to privacy is more important than public interest and patient safety. Ironically, a major reason why medical practitioners are often against public data release/reviews etc is apparently because they cannot publicly refute allegations or bad reviews, which is in turn because of patient privacy. Sometimes it feels like a morass of bad laws with unintended consequences. [1] Recent proposed changes to HIPAA do exactly that, without even an exception for research.