Briefs

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (12/26/05); Roth, Mark

Carnegie Mellon's Data Privacy Lab, headed by Latanya Sweeney, an associate professor of computer science, has the dual focus of advancing the security of personal data and working with the government to conduct terrorist surveillance without compromising citizens' privacy.

Sweeney has demonstrated the ability to identify people with only limited information, prompting her to develop the Identity Angel, software that determines how much of an individual's personal information is available on the Internet, and whether that information could be used to obtain a credit card. Many people include their name, address, and Social Security number on resumes that are posted online, and occasionally add their date of birth, which provides all the information usually required to obtain a credit card.

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