The current climate in the tech universe seems saturated with news of legislation, court rulings, and corporate mistakes that do nothing but threaten privacy. It's refreshing to see that at least one company is paying attention and working on a solution.

IBM has unveiled its DB2 Anonymous Resolution software, a package aimed at providing a collaborative framework for various entities without disclosing private information to all involved. This would be useful in collaborations involving different companies and government agencies, such as merger negotiations or checking airline passenger lists.

"The data can never be used beyond its original intent [because] it gives the data owner total control over knowledge discovery," says the director of IBM's Entity Analytics, Drew Friedrich.

Entity Analytics VP John Slitz adds that "DB2 Anonymous Resolution makes it possible for companies to openly share their personally identifiable information in a manner that is more secure than transferring clear text or even encrypted data."

So how is this made possible? According to IBM, the software will have the ability to determine whether two parties are discussing the same individual without first disclosing the private information of the individual in question.

"Everyone needs to share data, but the more it is shared, the higher the chances it will get out of your control," explains Jeff Jonas, chief scientist of Entity Analytics and the inventor of this technology. "Lots of people with information would like to know when they have two records in common, for instance, but they don’t want to share all their information just to discover that."