Confidential data

Here's an idea. If we build strong typing into a language, why can't it be a kind of attribute thing? Then the toolchain could be told that a given string contains data that should be treated confidentially, for example, because it is personal data under European law.  Bug reports could automatically anonymize it then.

I'm increasingly starting to see how strong typing is actually a form of annotation that allows limited automated reasoning about the code. As somebody said recently (can't remember where I read this), just because Java typing is so onerous doesn't mean you should throw the baby out with the bathwater.  The more logic is made transparent and amenable to simple automated tools, the better - it's when it starts getting in the way that you have troubles.