The Formal-Language-Constrained Graph Minimization Problem

We formally define the Formal-Language-Constrained Graph Minimization problem. The goal is to minimize the amount of data associated to the edges of a graph database, while preserving its utility, defined as a conjunctive path query. We show that the problem is NP-hard. A solution to this problem contributes to balancing the trade-off between privacy protection and utility when publishing a graph database.