Kolloquium WiSe 2014/15

Speaker

Prof. Johann-Christoph Freytag- DBIS, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

When: Monday,  12.01.2015 – 17:15

Where: Room D-125, Informatikum

This talk will be held in English or German, according to preference (the slides will be in English).

Topic

When to say NO for Privacy Protection while answering Queries

Abstract

This talk presents privacy concepts that keep the balance between utility and privacy when returning answers to a sequence of queries. In particular we show how to model the (increasing) knowledge of an adversary resulting from the answers to queries by a sequence of bipartite graphs. Those graphs provide the foundation for algorithms that decide when a privacy breach occurs (might occur) and how to balance the need for accurate responses versus the right for privacy. Examples demonstrate the intricacies of managing this trade-off.

We present our results in the context of k-anonymity, a popular concept for privacy which has been the focus for intense research for the last decade.  However, our results are usable in the context of other privacy approaches as well.

This work has been done in cooperation with Lukas Dölle, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Speaker biography

Johann-Christoph Freytag is currently full professor for Databases and Information Systems (DBIS) at the Computer Science Department of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Before joining the department in 1994, he was a research staff member at the IBM Almaden Research Center (1985-1987), a researcher at the European Computer-Industry-Research Centre (ECRC, in Munich, Germany, 1987-1989), and the head of Digital's Database Technology Center (also in Munich, 1990-1993). He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics/Computer Science from Harvard University, MA.

Freytag's research interests include all aspects of query processing and query optimization in object-relational database systems, new developments in the database area (such as semi-structured data, data quality, databases and security), privacy in database systems, and data quality as well as applying database technology to applications such as GIS, genomics, and bioinformatics/life science.

In the last years he received the IBM Faculty Award four times for collaborative work in the areas of databases, middleware, and bioinformatics/life science, as well as the HP Innovation Award of excellent cooperation in the area of databases and workflow systems. He organized the VLDB conference in Berlin in 2003 and was a member of the VLDB Endowment (2001-2007). Since 2009 Freytag heads the German database interest group of the GI (Fachbereich DBIS, Gesellschaft für Informatik).

Contact person

Prof. Hannes Federrath - SVS