

Harvard Professor Re-Identifies Anonymous Volunteers In DNA Study - blurpin
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/04/25/harvard-professor-re-identifies-anonymous-volunteers-in-dna-study/

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csense
IMHO the DNA study is sort of a red herring. The real story here is that ZIP
code, birthdate and gender have enough bits of entropy between them that they
can uniquely identify people 40% of the time.

I personally usually fill out my birthdate as January 1 of the nearest year
that is evenly divisible by 10 [1].

[1] Mainly when registering a new account with some random website that makes
you type in your date of birth to register an account. If it's connected to my
finances, employment, or medicine, of course I give them the real deal. Of
course, thanks to my wonderful government, even this may be a felony [2].

[2] [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/are-you-teenager-
who-r...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/are-you-teenager-who-reads-
news-online-according-justice-department-you-may-be)

