An Uncertainty Principle is a Price of Privacy-Preserving Microdata

Understand

Privacy-protected microdata are often the desired output of a differentially private algorithm since microdata is familiar and convenient for downstream users.

• However, there is a statistical price for this kind of convenience.
• We show that an uncertainty principle governs the trade-off between accuracy for a population of interest ("sum query") vs.
• accuracy for its component sub-populations ("point queries").