WIKIMEDIA, GEORGE GASTINData privacy researchers have been able to identify the names of hundreds of participants in the Personal Genome Project (PGP) using demographic data from their profiles, according to a paper out this week on the arXiv preprint server. The authors also suggest ways in which contributors can increase their privacy.
Launched in 2006, the PGP aims to collect genetic data as well as health and lifestyle information from 100,000 people to help researchers tease apart the interactions between genotype, environment, and phenotype. The project does not guarantee privacy, reported MIT Technology Review, and participants can choose to disclose as much personal data as they want, including ZIP code, birth date, and gender, on their online PGP profile. But these profiles are “de-identified,” meaning their names and addresses are not made public.
Now, researchers from Harvard University have demonstrated that this veneer of anonymity is easily breached. By comparing demographic data from 579 PGP profiles containing zip codes, full dates of birth, and genders with information from voter lists and other public records, and identifying patient ...
