r/privacy • u/SW33TSTUFF • 1d ago

question How can I anonymize graph structural data?

Hi everyone. Recently, I've been interested in looking into ways on how privacy preserving data publishing of graph data is done. I came across the concept of k-anonymity applied for structural data. I came across k-anonymity adaptations for undirected networks. There were several privacy protection models defined, such as degree and 1-hop neighborhood as the quasi-identifiers.

However, I'm not sure if they are widely used in practice or are they concept papers. I was looking for practical implementations and didn't come across solutions that readily available.

Is k-anonymity as a concept deprecated and not used anymore, or is differential privacy the norm?
Also, what is the data protection regulations for k-anonymity is like? Is there a defined k-value that data publishers should consider? Where can I learn more about this?

PS: I have a twitter directed data, which consists of hubs and other graph structural properties that I would the consumer to go through without revealing the identities of those individuals.

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u/KeanuRave100 1d ago

K-anonymity feels like retrofitting privacy onto structures that were never meant to hide. Differential privacy became the default because it scales without needing perfect quasi-identifier lists, though good luck finding off-the-shelf graph tools that aren't research prototypes.