Google launches differential privacy tool for Python developers

Google launches differential privacy tool for Python developers

Google has worked with OpenMined for 12 months to create their new product, allowing Python developers to process data with differential privacy.

Google and OpenMined’s latest product

Google has just launched a new tool that enables Python developers to process data with differential privacy. They have created this with help from OpenMined.

They have worked on this project for 12 months. This privacy infrastructure by Google, which is freely available, is meant to help millions within “the global developer community — researchers, governments, nonprofits, businesses and more — build and launch new applications for differential privacy, which can provide useful insights and services without revealing any information about individuals.”

How the product came about

Since 2019, Google began working on differential privacy-related tools and received a lot of interest. This prompted them to this product. Miguel Guevara, Google’s data protection and privacy office product manager, said that they contacted OpenMined in 2021 to discuss the idea for the Python product. Their main goal was to create a freely available, entirely usable end-to-end differential privacy solution. OpenMined was immediately on board.

Guevara said, “It’s been a truly amazing experience to work collectively with OpenMined towards building a more private Internet. The energy that their developers had through this journey over the past year demonstrated the appetite there is for expanding access to these privacy-enhancing technologies that we believe will play a critical role in the future of the web for every user.”

This collaboration did not just revolve around creating the Python product but also included the training of third-party experts so they may educate anyone wanting to learn about leveraging differential privacy tech.

“Beyond the joint work our engineers did for the design and implementation of the library, we’re also thrilled that OpenMined now offers trained experts to provide guidance and resources for any developer looking to implement differential privacy in their projects.”