Determining Journalist Risk of a Dataset Using Population Equivalence Class Distribution Estimation

摘要

A system, method and computer readable memory for determining journalist risk of a dataset using population equivalence class distribution estimation. The dataset may be a cross-sectional data set or a longitudinal dataset. The determine risk of identification can be determined and used in de-identification process of the dataset.

主权项

1. A computer implemented method of determining journalist risk associated with a dataset, the method comprising:
retrieving the dataset containing a plurality of records containing personal data, the dataset representing a sample of individuals and data associated with a larger population; determining sample equivalence class (EC) distribution of the dataset; equating a population EC distribution to the determined sample EC distribution; calculating probability that an EC in the dataset of size x came from population of size y for all x and y; and calculating the journalist risk measurement using calculated probability; wherein the equivalence classes define a collection of all records in the dataset containing identical values for all quasi-identifiers in the data.