Skip to main content

Fixed-Parameter Tractability of Anonymizing Data by Suppressing Entries

  • Conference paper
Combinatorial Optimization and Applications (COCOA 2008)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 5165))

Abstract

A popular model for protecting privacy when person-specific data is released is k-anonymity. A dataset is k-anonymous if each record is identical to at least (k − 1) other records in the dataset. The basic k-anonymization problem, which minimizes the number of dataset entries that must be suppressed to achieve k-anonymity, is NP-hard and hence not solvable both quickly and optimally in general. We apply parameterized complexity analysis to explore algorithmic options for restricted versions of this problem that occur in practice. We present the first fixed-parameter algorithms for this problem and identify key techniques that can be applied to this and other k-anonymization problems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Aggarwal, G., Feder, T., Kenthapadi, K., Motwani, R., Panigrahy, R., Thomas, D., Zhu, A.: Anonymizing tables. In: Eiter, T., Libkin, L. (eds.) ICDT 2005. LNCS, vol. 3363, pp. 246–258. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Chaytor, R.: Utility Preserving k-Anonymity. Technical Report MUN-CS 2006-01, Dept.Computer Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Chaytor, R.: Allowing Privacy Protection Algorithms to Jump out of Local Optimums: An Ordered Greed Framework. In: Bonchi, F., et al. (eds.) PinKDD 2007. LNCS, vol. 4890, pp. 33–55. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Downey, R., Fellows, M.: Parameterized Complexity. Springer, Heidelberg (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  5. MacDonald, D.: Personal Communication (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Meyerson, A., Williams, R.: On the complexity of optimal k-anonymity. In: Proc. of 23rd ACM Sym. on Principles of Database Systems (PODS 2004), pp. 223–228 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Niedermeier, R.: Invitation to Fixed-Parameter Algorithms. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2006)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Sweeney, L.: Achieving k-anonymity privacy protection using generalization and suppression. Int’l J. on Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems 10(5), 571–588 (2002)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. Wang, K., Yu, P., Chakraborty, S.: Bottom-up generalization: a data mining solution to privacy protection. In: ICDM 2004, pp. 249–256 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Wareham, T.: Systematic Parameterized Complexity Analysis in Computational Phonology. Ph.D.thesis, Dept.Computer Science, University of Victoria (1999)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Boting Yang Ding-Zhu Du Cao An Wang

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Chaytor, R., Evans, P.A., Wareham, T. (2008). Fixed-Parameter Tractability of Anonymizing Data by Suppressing Entries. In: Yang, B., Du, DZ., Wang, C.A. (eds) Combinatorial Optimization and Applications. COCOA 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5165. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85097-7_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85097-7_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-85096-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-85097-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics