

Airbnb Agrees To Provide Anonymized User Data To New York Attorney General - uptown
http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/21/airbnb-new-york-agreement/

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jacquesm
Anonymizing user data is very very hard. See
[http://www.uclalawreview.org/?p=1353](http://www.uclalawreview.org/?p=1353)
Broken Promises of Privacy by prof. Paul Ohm. Also see the AOL search debacle:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_leak](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_leak)

AirBNB seems to be bound to release other data as well though, the document
linked says:

"(3) for a period of twelve (12) months from completion of production of
anonymized data Airbnb shall further comply with the subpoena by producing the
(a) name, e-mail address, telephone numbers, social media account information;
(b) website user name, HostID, listing ID; (c) unit/apartment number(s); and
(d) tax identification number(s) for individual users about whom anonymized
data is produced pursuant to paragraph 2 above and who are then the subjects
of an investigation or potential enforcement action by NYAG or the NYC office
of special enforcement."

So it looks as if this is just the beginnings of a much more detailed request
and that second request will _not_ be anonymous at all.

