What are some notable cases of anonymization failures?

What are some notable cases of anonymization failures?

One notable case is the re-identification of individuals in the Netflix dataset, where users' movie ratings were linked to their identities.

How did researchers manage to re-identify users in that case?

Researchers used publicly available information, such as IMDb ratings, to match and identify users based on their unique rating patterns.

Are there other examples of anonymization failures?

Yes, another example is the AOL search data leak, where search queries were anonymized but still led to the identification of users.

What lessons can be learned from these failures?

The key lessons include the importance of robust anonymization techniques and the need for continuous evaluation of data privacy measures.