Introduction to Privacy and Anonymity in Information Management Systems
This first chapter is thought as a quick guide to the reader of the book. It contains a summary of the contents of each chapter. Before that, we explain the motivations that led to the edition of this book, the importance of the topics discussed in it, an
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Introduction to Privacy and Anonymity in Information Management Systems Javier Herranz and Jordi Nin
Abstract This first chapter is thought as a quick guide to the reader of the book. It contains a summary of the contents of each chapter. Before that, we explain the motivations that led to the edition of this book, the importance of the topics discussed in it, and the intended/expected audience.
1.1 Background and Motivation The development of information technologies in the last years is unquestionable. Large amounts of data are collected and stored by both public institutions and private companies everyday. This collection of data has always a more or less specific goal. A first example of such goal is security: information about people, purchases, trips, personal communications, etc., is stored to decrease or detect possible security risks for the societies or to implement control policies. Another example of a goal when collecting data is more oriented to business. Private companies collect information about clients, about other companies and products, in such a way that they can classify or predict clients’ behaviors (data mining), they can compare themselves with rival companies, etc. All this information is useful to determine the market strategies to be followed. Finally, a last canonical example of collection and storing of data is more related to research goals. Medical institutions or statistical agencies, among others, collect and disseminate data so that not only themselves but also external analysts can use this data for research purposes, for decision making, or for any other use. All these examples illustrate the benefits that a society can globally (or partially) obtain from the development of information technologies. However, if no care is taken when collecting, storing, and disseminating data, then there are clear threats to the privacy of citizens. For example, if a hospital publicly disseminates data about J. Herranz (B) Department of Matemàtica Aplicada IV, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, C. Jordi Girona 1-3, Mòdul C3, 08034 Barcelona, Catalonia e-mail: [email protected]
J. Nin, J. Herranz (eds.), Privacy and Anonymity in Information Management Systems, Advanced Information and Knowledge Processing, C Springer-Verlag London Limited 2010 DOI 10.1007/978-1-84996-238-4_1,
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J. Herranz and J. Nin
its patients, with the honest goal of helping pharmaceutical research and progress, confidential information about illnesses and treatments of specific patients may be leaked. There is thus a delicate trade-off between the use of digital data (for security, progress, research, competitiveness) and the privacy of the citizens. Many documents (from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations to local laws) clearly protect the privacy of people, but the (non-) fulfillment of these laws is not always easy to check or detect. Ensuring privacy for individuals in a society, when dealing with digital information, is a task which involves many agents: politicians, legal au
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