We examine the tradeoff between privacy and usability of statistical databases. We model a statistical database by an n-bit string d1,.., dn, with a query being a subset q ⊆ [n] to be answered by � i∈q di. Our main result is a polynomial reconstruction algorithm of data from noisy (perturbed) subset sums. Applying this reconstruction algorithm to statistical databases we show that in order to achieve privacy one has to add perturbation of magnitude Ω ( √ n). That is, smaller perturbation always results in a strong violation of privacy. We show that this result is tight by exemplifying access algorithms for statistical databases that preserve privacy while adding perturbation of magnitude Õ(√n). For time-T bounded adversaries we demonstrate a privacy-preserving access algorithm whose perturbation magnitude is ≈ √ T. 1

Contents 1 The Magical Mystery Tour 7 1.1 Some Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.1.1 Hardness results for linear transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.1.2 Error Correcting Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.1.3 De-randomizing Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.2 Magical Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.2.1 A Super Concentrator with O(n) edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.2.2 Error Correcting Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.2.3 De-randomizing Random Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.3 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chernoff--Hoeffding bounds are fundamental tools used in bounding the tail probabilities of the sums of bounded and independent random variables. We present a simple technique which gives slightly better bounds than these, and which more importantly requires only limited independence among the random variables, thereby importing a variety of standard results to the case of limited independence for free. Additional methods are also presented, and the aggregate results are sharp and provide a better understanding of the proof techniques behind these bounds. They also yield improved bounds for various tail probability distributions and enable improved approximation algorithms for jobshop scheduling. The "limited independence" result implies that a reduced amount of randomness and weaker sources of randomness are sufficient for randomized algorithms whose analyses use the Chernoff--Hoeffding bounds, e.g., the analysis of randomized algorithms for random sampling and oblivious packet routi...

In this article we present a theoretical analysis of the online Sum-of-Squares algorithm (SS) for bin packing along with several new variants. SS is applicable to any instance of bin packing in which the bin capacity B and item sizes s(a) are integral (or can be scaled to be so), and runs in time O(nB). It performs remarkably well from an average case point of view: For any discrete distribution in which the optimal expected waste is sublinear, SS also has sublinear expected waste. For any discrete distribution where the optimal expected waste is bounded, SS has expected waste at most O(log n). We also discuss several interesting variants on SS, including a randomized O(nBlog B)-time online algorithm SS ∗ whose expected behavior is essentially optimal for all discrete distributions. Algorithm SS ∗ depends on a new linear-programming-based pseudopolynomial-time algorithm for solving the

... We show lower bounds that come close to our upper bounds (for a large range of n and ffl): Schemes that answer queries with just one bitprobe and error probability ffl must use \Omega ( nffl log(1=ffl) log m) bits of storage; if the error is restricted to queries not in S, then the scheme must use \Omega ( n2ffl2 log(n=ffl) log m) bits of storage. We also

In this paper, monotone Boolean functions are studied using harmonic analysis on the cube.

A pseudorandom generator G n : f0; 1g is hard for a propositional proof system P if (roughly speaking) P can not ef- ciently prove the statement G n (x 1 ; : : : ; x n ) 6= b for any string b 2 . We present a function (m 2 ) generator which is hard for Res( log n); here Res(k) is the propositional proof system that extends Resolution by allowing k-DNFs instead of clauses.

Classical ngerprinting associates with each string a shorter string (its ngerprint) , such that, with high probability, any two distinct strings can be distinguished by comparing their ngerprints alone. The ngerprints can be exponentially smaller than the original strings if the parties preparing the ngerprints share a random key, but not if they only have access to uncorrelated random sources. In this paper we show that ngerprints consisting of quantum information can be made exponentially smaller than the original strings without any correlations or entanglement between the parties. In our scheme, the ngerprints are exponentially shorter than the original strings and a measurement distinguishes between the ngerprints of any two distinct strings. Our scheme implies an exponential quantum/classical gap for the equality problem in the simultaneous message passing model of communication complexity. We optimize several aspects of our scheme. Typeset using REVT E X 1...

We show that a Boolean function over n Boolean variables can be tested for the property of depending on only k of them, using a number of queries that depends only on k and the approximation parameter . We present two tests, both non-adaptive, that require a number of queries that is polynomial k and linear in . The first test is stronger in that it has a 1-sided error, while the second test has a more compact analysis. We also present an adaptive version and a 2-sided error version of the first test, that have a somewhat better query complexity than the other algorithms...

Given d ∈ (0, ∞) let kd be the smallest integer k such that d < 2k log k. We prove that the chromatic number of a random graph G(n,d/n) is either kd or kd + 1 almost surely. 1.