Skip to content
Get in touch

Reviewed in POC · content version 2

Review De-Identification / Anonymization Risk

Your draft is bound to this exact source hash. If the term changes, the Review Desk will use a new storage key instead of silently attaching old decisions.

Definition

De-identification and anonymization risk is the possibility that data intended to conceal identity can still be linked back to a person through remaining attributes, outside information, or future techniques.
Decision for Definition

Plain-Language Explanation

Removing names may not remove identity. Dates, locations, rare characteristics, identifiers, and combinations of fields can make a record recognizable when joined with other data.
Decision for Plain-Language Explanation

Why It Matters

Privacy decisions must consider the data, likely recipients, available outside information, technical safeguards, legal standard, and consequences of re-identification.
Decision for Why It Matters

Example

Health records without names become identifiable when unusual dates and demographic details are matched with public records.
Decision for Example

Common Misconception

De-identified and anonymous are not always interchangeable legal or technical claims, and removing direct identifiers does not eliminate all privacy risk.
Decision for Common Misconception

Remember It This Way

A name can disappear while identity remains recoverable.
Decision for Remember It This Way

Related Terms

* [[sanitized-information|Sanitized Information]] * [[sensitive-information|Sensitive Information]] * [[data-privacy-and-gdpr|Data Privacy and GDPR]] * [[data-leakage|Data Leakage]]
Decision for Related Terms

Sources

* [NIST SP 800-188, De-Identifying Government Datasets](https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-188) — authoritative guidance on de-identification methods and re-identification risk.
Decision for Sources

Learn More

* Compare practical sanitization with [[sanitized-information|Sanitized Information]].
Decision for Learn More
Return to term

Not saved yet.