ABSTRACT
While the domain of this act is limited, it is clear that we need the ability to understand and mitigate the privacy impact of data mining.
What has been the impact of privacy-preserving data mining research over the last 5 years? In commercial terms, the answer is little or none-privacy-preserving data mining technology is still in the research paper, or at best research prototype, stage. However, the research may have had an impact on the privacy versus data mining debate; researchers have pointed out the privacy implications of data mining technology, and the debate had become more reasoned. For example, the Moratorium Act of 2003 banned data mining, with exceptions for computer searches of public information or computer searches that are based on a particularized suspicion of an individual. By the 2007 Act, the term “data mining” had been limited to patternbased “queries, searches, or other analyses to discover or locate a predictive pattern or anomaly indicative of terrorist or criminal activity on the part of any individual or individuals.” This is much more specific than the research community’s view of data mining, and shows recognition that data mining technology is not inherently bad, but is (perhaps unusually) subject to misuse.
