title: Translucent Databases
body: <p>I am building an application with health information inside. This application will be consumer-facing with is new for me. I would like a method to put privacy concerns completely at ease. As I review methods for securing sensitive data in publicly accessible databases I have frequently come across the notion of database translucency. There is <a href="http://www.wayner.org/books/td/" rel="noreferrer">the original book</a> on the subject and an <a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/08/02/simson.html" rel="noreferrer">excellent tutorial on the subject from Oriellynet</a>.</p>
  
  <p>My concern is that I have seen very little information regarding this idea on what I would consider very-modern programming sites (like this one). There does not seem to be an article about the idea on wikipedia. No questions on the subject here, and no very recent tutorials or articles on the subject. To be uber-brief, the idea is that certain data is clear to some users of the system, while other users a cryptographically prevented from accessing that data, even if they have administrator access.</p>
  
  <p>I have done substantial work on a prototype database that provides translucent data access. I have run across a considerable problem: To be truly translucent, there can be no mechanism for password recovery. If an administrator can reset a users password, then they can briefly gain access to a users data. To be truly translucent, the user must never loose the password. </p>
  
  <p>Those of us who use strong encryption to protect private data in our daily lives (technorati to be sure) are used to this problem when using these kinds of strong encryption systems. If the word "blowfish" is part of your daily lexicon that is one thing, but a website that is consumer focused? I am concerned that users will not be willing to wrap their mind around the "truly encrypted just for you" notion implicit with true database translucency. I am afraid of the support call that begins with "I lost my password" and ends with me saying "There is nothing that I can do for you".</p>
  
  <p>My question: Should I implement this method in my application? Are there other open source applications that have gone down this route that I can compare database designs with (esp using php/MySQL)? I anyone else pursuing these kind of truly secure, but really inconvenient feature sets? Is there another database security model that is more popular and modern that I have missed? Was database translucency a fad or a legitimate database design method that I should embrace? While I always appreciate discussion I would prefer objective answers that I can leverage in my design.</p>