The web as a privacy lab

The privacy dangers of data proliferation on the Web are well-known. Information on the Web has facilitated the de-anonymization of anonymous bloggers, the de-sanitization of government records and the identification of individuals based on search engine queries. What has received less attention is Web-mining in support of privacy. In this position paper we argue that the very ability of Web data to breach privacy demonstrates its value as a laboratory for the detection of privacy breaches before they happen. In addition, we argue that privacy-invasive services may become privacy-respecting by mining publicly available Web data, with little decrease in performance and efficiency.

Citation

Chow, R.; Fang, J.; Golle, P.; Staddon, J. The web as a privacy lab. Intelligent Information Privacy Management Symposium; 2010 March 23-25; Stanford, CA.