> I feel like most of those research questions could be answered if
If the person who releases this kind of information has the foresight to know what the questions are going to be, they could provide the answers directly rather than go half-way and modify the data. It would likely be less work than trying to produce anonymized data that is both useful and secure.
What I see used in cases like this is one of two options. Either full public access, or restricted access where only a few selected get the chance to do the research. The 0.01% misuse is thus balanced to that choice, rather than the theoretical case of anonymized data.
If the person who releases this kind of information has the foresight to know what the questions are going to be, they could provide the answers directly rather than go half-way and modify the data. It would likely be less work than trying to produce anonymized data that is both useful and secure.
What I see used in cases like this is one of two options. Either full public access, or restricted access where only a few selected get the chance to do the research. The 0.01% misuse is thus balanced to that choice, rather than the theoretical case of anonymized data.