Anonymity and Anonymization in the Digital World

AnonDig 2021


Engineering & Computer Science (General)



Anonymity and anonymization are interdisciplinary topics where very different views come together. Usually motivated by legal reasons (data protection), mathematical models as well as algorithms and software are needed to implement anonymity and anonymization effectively and efficiently. Important underlying aspects are sociological and philosophical considerations of what exactly is meant by anonymity and its counterpart, identity. Moreover, it is necessary to build a bridge between legal definitions and technical implementations. Dealing with anonymity and anonymization is also an important task in the sustainable design of information systems and digital infrastructures. The value of many such systems is based on the use of large amounts of data ("Big Data"), a significant portion of which is personal. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and similar laws in other parts of the world reflect the desire of data subjects to protect their privacy. In this context, anonymity and anonymization can help to implement the principles of privacy-by-design and privacy-by-default.
The aim of this workshop is to bring together the different views on anonymity and anonymization and to initiate a discussion between the disciplines involved, with a specific focus on the following topics:
- Anonymity, anonymization, and re-identification from the legal perspective
- Anonymization and re-identification in data science and machine learning
- Practical implementation of anonymization using methods from computer science, mathematics and statistics
- Sociological considerations on identity and anonymity with implications for data anonymization
SUBMISSION FORMAT
The following types of papers may be submitted:
Long paper: scientific, technical paper or case study: 12 pages max.
Short paper: paper presenting new research ideas and ongoing research: 6 pages max.
Position paper: 4 pages max.
All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published in a volume of the Lecture Notes in Informatics (LNI) series. All contributions must adhere to the author guidelines of LNI (https://gi.de/service/publikationen/lni) and can be submitted in English or German via the conference system EasyChair at https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=anondig21. To facilitate a uniform appearance of the conference proceedings, contributions in LaTeX format are preferred.