Clean Rooms Aren't A Data Free-For-All

Clean rooms are all the rage these days. They enable parties to engage in certain data processing activities in a more secure and privacy-friendly manner.

Putting data in the possession of a presumably trusted third party makes a world of sense. But while clean rooms are very useful for some things, it is questionable whether they are the panacea for all privacy-compliance challenges.

Restrictions on clean rooms

The term clean room is meant to describe a helpful structure; a neutral intermediary analyzing data of multiple parties without allowing unauthorized access to personal information. The inputs are tightly defined and the outputs are even more specific.

However, the activities within the clean room and the outputs may still have a privacy impact, since clean rooms can be used for matching data, appending data, cross-referencing data sets and other purposes.