De-identification
The process of removing or obscuring personal identifiers from data to protect individual privacy.
Definition
Technical and management measures that make it impossible to identify a specific natural person without additional information; de‑identified data falls outside the scope of personal information protection if re-identification is effectively prevented under applicable standards. The law distinguishes de-identification from anonymization and sets standards for each.
Related Terms
Anonymization
The irreversible process of altering data so individuals cannot be identified directly or indirectly....
Pseudonymization
Processing personal data so it cannot be attributed to an individual without additional separately-held information....
Data Minimization
The principle that personal data collected and processed should be limited to what is necessary for specified purposes....