{"id":457842,"date":"2022-06-04T19:00:11","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T16:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/de-anonymization-is-the-biggest-privacy-threat-no-one-is-talking-about\/"},"modified":"2022-06-04T19:00:11","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T16:00:11","slug":"de-anonymization-is-the-biggest-privacy-threat-no-one-is-talking-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/de-anonymization-is-the-biggest-privacy-threat-no-one-is-talking-about\/","title":{"rendered":"#De-Anonymization Is the Biggest Privacy Threat No One Is Talking About"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3378b216afa\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3378b216afa\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/de-anonymization-is-the-biggest-privacy-threat-no-one-is-talking-about\/#%E2%80%9CDe-Anonymization_Is_the_Biggest_Privacy_Threat_No_One_Is_Talking_About%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;De-Anonymization Is the Biggest Privacy Threat No One Is Talking About&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/de-anonymization-is-the-biggest-privacy-threat-no-one-is-talking-about\/#Your_Data_Is_Valuable\" >Your Data Is Valuable<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/de-anonymization-is-the-biggest-privacy-threat-no-one-is-talking-about\/#Re-Identification_Is_Becoming_Trivial\" >Re-Identification Is Becoming Trivial<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/de-anonymization-is-the-biggest-privacy-threat-no-one-is-talking-about\/#De-Anonymization_and_Cryptocurrency\" >De-Anonymization and Cryptocurrency<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/de-anonymization-is-the-biggest-privacy-threat-no-one-is-talking-about\/#What_Can_You_Do\" >What Can You Do?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CDe-Anonymization_Is_the_Biggest_Privacy_Threat_No_One_Is_Talking_About%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;De-Anonymization Is the Biggest Privacy Threat No One Is Talking About&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage size-full wp-image-802211\" data-pagespeed-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/man-silhouette-arms-crossed.jpg?width=398&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 400w, https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/man-silhouette-arms-crossed.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, 400w, 1200w\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/man-silhouette-arms-crossed.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Anonymous silhouette of a man with his arms crossed.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/anonymous-man-business-shirt-arms-crossed-1382210507\">ivan_kislitsin\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Are you really anonymous on the internet? Despite your best efforts, artificial intelligence and the ever-present surveillance systems around you could reveal your identity and activities to anyone who has access to that \u201canonymized\u201d data in a practice known as \u201cde-anonymization\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Your_Data_Is_Valuable\"><\/span>Your Data Is Valuable<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Most of the services you enjoy but don\u2019t directly pay for on the internet make money by collecting and selling data. That data includes everything you do on the internet, tracked by third-party cookies across multiple sites. Other types of data such as location data can also be harvested, and it doesn\u2019t stop there. Finely-grained information about how you interact with digital systems can all be recorded and analyzed.<\/p>\n<p>This data is \u201canonymized\u201d, which simply means that information that identifies you directly has been removed. That\u2019s stuff like your name, IP address, physical address, and anything similar. What\u2019s left is everything else, which can be used to build detailed profiles connected to an advertising ID.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Re-Identification_Is_Becoming_Trivial\"><\/span>Re-Identification Is Becoming Trivial<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-802213\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/single-person-crowd.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"A single red wooden figurine separated from other wooden figurines.\" width=\"650\" height=\"350\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/businessman-pushes-crowd-people-finds-right-1488394073\">Andrii Yalanskyi\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The problem with this anonymization process is that it\u2019s becoming trivial to re-identify anonymized data by cross-referencing it with publicly available information or with information gathered from multiple websites using the aforementioned tracking cookies.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s an entire data broking industry that\u2019s sprung up around creating these marketing profiles that can be sold to anyone willing to pay for it. Data brokers were brilliantly explained by John Oliver on an episode of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/wqn3gR1WTcA\"><em>Last Week Tonight<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine having a phone book that, apart from your name, address, and phone number, also tells people your income, health problems, life stage, and much more. Re-identification is so easy that researchers <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-019-10933-3\">estimate<\/a> that \u201c99.98% of Americans would be correctly re-identified in any dataset using 15 demographic attributes\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"De-Anonymization_and_Cryptocurrency\"><\/span>De-Anonymization and Cryptocurrency<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Apart from the run-of-the-mill data collection that\u2019s h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ening every day, there\u2019s a special type of de-anonymization concern linked to blockchain technologies such as cryptocurrency. A blockchain ledger keeps a perfect record of every transaction that\u2019s ever happened since the blockchain was created.<\/p>\n<p>Crypto wallets are only collections of numbers without names. and this has led to the belief that cryptocurrency is anonymous. The problem is that transactions on the blockchain can be matched to third-party data that de-anonymizes it. That can include when you exchange cryptocurrency for dollars, when a product you\u2019ve bought with crypto ships to your home address, or anything else where the activity or amounts reflected on the blockchain match something that\u2019s not anonymous.<\/p>\n<p>This is why cryptocurrency mixers and tumblers exist, that perform randomized transactions and shuffle coins into participating wallets, obscuring the trail. Some cryptocurrencies, such as <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getmonero.org\/get-started\/what-is-monero\/#:~:text=Unlike%20selectively%20transparent%20alternatives%20(e.g.,%2C%20Ring%20Signatures%2C%20and%20RingCT.\">Monero<\/a>, are designed from the ground up to combat this issue.<\/p>\n<p>However, even if you\u2019re using a strong anonymous coin today, future computing <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> may easily decrypt the blockchain, which is indelible. So something you did decades before that point could be uncovered in the future, and if it\u2019s already on the blockchain there\u2019s nothing you can do about it!<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Can_You_Do\"><\/span>What Can You Do?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The first and most effective thing you can do is change the type of software you use to perform internet searches or browsing. There are engines (e.g. DuckDuckGo) and browsers (e.g. Brave) that specifically block tracking cookies and other methods of tracking to prevent data collection.<\/p>\n<p>Apple has a policy where apps have to ask whether they may track you or not. For a blanket solution, you can go to Privacy &gt; Tracking on your iOS device and disable Allow Apps to Request to Track.<\/p>\n<p>The only real negative for you as the user is that you\u2019ll now see random advertising which may be irrelevant to you, but that\u2019s a small price to pay for privacy.<\/p>\n<p>You can also be selective about when and how you block tracking. Limiting it to things you definitely don\u2019t want people to know about you, but being more lenient about facts that you\u2019re not concerned about. For example, you can ask apps in iOS not to track on a case-by-case basis, depending on how sensitive you feel that information is. You could also use a privacy browser (inside a virtual machine, through the Tor network, and with a VPN if you\u2019re\u00a0<em>really\u00a0<\/em>concerned) only for sensitive browsing. Thereby segmenting your online life into public and private spheres.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re really concerned about your smartphone or other devices revealing your presence at sensitive locations, you also have the option of using a Faraday bag, which will temporarily block all radio signals from your phone until you take it out.<\/p>\n<p>As for information that\u2019s already been collected, that\u2019s a tougher issue. Much depends on where you live. In Europe, for example, the GDPR legal framework gives citizens recourse and a \u201cright to be forgotten\u201d, but in the USA this isn\u2019t the case. The most practical thing you can do is control and limit future tracking, until existing information about you becomes worthless.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/801907\/de-anonymization-threat-to-privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;De-Anonymization Is the Biggest Privacy Threat No One Is Talking About&#8221; ivan_kislitsin\/Shutterstock.com Are you really anonymous on the internet? Despite your best efforts, artificial intelligence and the ever-present surveillance systems around you could reveal your identity and activities to anyone who has access to that \u201canonymized\u201d data in a practice known as \u201cde-anonymization\u201d. Your Data&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":457843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/man-silhouette-arms-crossed.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-457842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}