{"title":"Differentially private histogram with valid statistics","authors":"Zilong Cao , Shisong Wu , Xuanang Li , Hai Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.spl.2024.110354","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Differentially private histograms (DP-Histograms) are integral to data publication and privacy preservation efforts. However, conventional DP-Histograms often fail to preserve valid statistical information and the essential characteristics of the original data. This paper shows the invalidity of variance is the inherent shortcomings in general DP-Histograms, and introduces a novel algorithm called the Differentially Private Histogram with Valid Statistics (VSDPH) to overcome the problem. The VSDPH, grounded in linear programming and bounded Lipschitz distance, efficiently generates DP histograms while preserving the valid statistics of the original data. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that histograms produced by VSDPH maintain asymptotically valid variance, and we establish an upper bound based on the 1-Wasserstein distance. Through experiments, we validate that VSDPH can accurately hold the statistical characteristics of the original data. This capability brings the resulting histograms closer to the originals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49475,"journal":{"name":"Statistics & Probability Letters","volume":"219 ","pages":"Article 110354"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Statistics & Probability Letters","FirstCategoryId":"100","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167715224003237","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"数学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"STATISTICS & PROBABILITY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Differentially private histograms (DP-Histograms) are integral to data publication and privacy preservation efforts. However, conventional DP-Histograms often fail to preserve valid statistical information and the essential characteristics of the original data. This paper shows the invalidity of variance is the inherent shortcomings in general DP-Histograms, and introduces a novel algorithm called the Differentially Private Histogram with Valid Statistics (VSDPH) to overcome the problem. The VSDPH, grounded in linear programming and bounded Lipschitz distance, efficiently generates DP histograms while preserving the valid statistics of the original data. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that histograms produced by VSDPH maintain asymptotically valid variance, and we establish an upper bound based on the 1-Wasserstein distance. Through experiments, we validate that VSDPH can accurately hold the statistical characteristics of the original data. This capability brings the resulting histograms closer to the originals.
期刊介绍:
Statistics & Probability Letters adopts a novel and highly innovative approach to the publication of research findings in statistics and probability. It features concise articles, rapid publication and broad coverage of the statistics and probability literature.
Statistics & Probability Letters is a refereed journal. Articles will be limited to six journal pages (13 double-space typed pages) including references and figures. Apart from the six-page limitation, originality, quality and clarity will be the criteria for choosing the material to be published in Statistics & Probability Letters. Every attempt will be made to provide the first review of a submitted manuscript within three months of submission.
The proliferation of literature and long publication delays have made it difficult for researchers and practitioners to keep up with new developments outside of, or even within, their specialization. The aim of Statistics & Probability Letters is to help to alleviate this problem. Concise communications (letters) allow readers to quickly and easily digest large amounts of material and to stay up-to-date with developments in all areas of statistics and probability.
The mainstream of Letters will focus on new statistical methods, theoretical results, and innovative applications of statistics and probability to other scientific disciplines. Key results and central ideas must be presented in a clear and concise manner. These results may be part of a larger study that the author will submit at a later time as a full length paper to SPL or to another journal. Theory and methodology may be published with proofs omitted, or only sketched, but only if sufficient support material is provided so that the findings can be verified. Empirical and computational results that are of significant value will be published.