Data sensitivity quantifies who should have access to data items and how much harm would be done if the data was disclosed.
There are a few limits on how the data is disclosed.
The reported number of stops was 508,540 in 2006, compared with 97,296 in 2002, the last previous year for which 12 months' worth of data was disclosed.
When that could be found, four in ten still didn't disclose what personal data they held; when data was disclosed, a third of the time it wasn't everything the organisation held.
The theory in each of the suits is that a series of "materially false and misleading" financial statements resulted in AOL's share price being far higher than would ever have been the case had more accurate data been disclosed.
"The warrant and probable cause requirements," she said, "ensure that an objective magistrate determines that there is a good reason to believe that a search will turn up evidence of wrongdoing before mobile phone location data is disclosed".
The reports list aggregate information about government requests for user data; a typical report will show how many requests were received, how many accounts they affected, who made the requests, and what percentage of the requests resulted in data being disclosed.
Although concerns were associated with the use of data in anonymised form, most frequent mention was made of risks to individuals if identifiable data was disclosed.
However, the sensitive and personal nature of health data poses ethical challenges when data is disclosed and shared even if for scientific research purposes.
"But you have to appreciate that if there's just one mistake, or one time that data are disclosed, it ruins it for everybody, forever.
