DIKU Bits: Algorithms and Privacy, a case study

Speaker

Rasmus Pagh, professor in the Algorithms and Complexity section at DIKU.

Abstract

In 1997 Latanya Sweeney identified the patient records of the governor of Massachusetts by combining “anonymized” patient records with data from other public sources. More recently, researchers in Australia found that medical records of 2.5 million Australians are re-identifiable in an “anonymized” public health data set. This talk discusses how clever use of algorithms and probability theory can allow us to avoid such situations, guaranteeing privacy *and* allowing us to analyze sensitive data.

Zooming in on Rasmus Pagh

Which courses do you teach? (BSc and MSc)
I am new to DIKU, so did not teach yet, but will be teaching Approximation Algorithms (APX) this semester.

Which technology/research/projects/startup are you excited to see the evolution of?
I am looking forward to seeing mathematically sound privacy preserving technologies like differential privacy and secure multi-party computation being used in more and more contexts.

What is your favorite sketch from the DIKU Revy?
I studied at Aarhus University, so I have never been to DIKU Revy, but “The Unit Test Sketch” on Youtube is pretty funny. Reminds me of classical “Verdens Kedeligste Foredrag” at AU.