Some remarks and ideas about monetization of sensitive data

Abstract

One of the emerging problems on the border of privacy protection research and e-commerce is the monetization of sensitive data. More precisely, a client would like to obtain some statistical data about users’ personal information in exchange for a reward. To satisfy both parties, a monetization protocol should ensure that users’ privacy is not violated and the data utility is preserved at the same time. During ESORICS 2014 Bilogrevic et al. presented a novel and promising approach to monetization of aggregated sensitive data. In our paper, we point some flaws and shortcomings of the presented protocol. We also make some general methodological remarks to explain why some auspicious directions of data monetization might be futile. Finally, we propose a simple scheme for a secure data aggregation based on sharing trust between different non-collaborating parties.