4 ms·
>unless the data has been de-identified (a high barrier) It is claimed something like half the population can be uniquely identified just with DOB, gender, and
by vba616 4y ago
>unless the data has been de-identified (a high barrier)
It is claimed something like half the population can be uniquely identified just with DOB, gender, and zip code.
"A high barrier" is ambiguous - it could mean that it is high because it's difficult and expensive to comply with the legal standards - or it could mean it provides a high level of protection against uniquely identifying subjects.
I'm betting 100% of the former and 0% of the latter.
- jollofricepeas 4y agoDe-identification is a hard problem. All of the major enterprise healthcare organizations have dedicated analysts who work solely on de-identifying datasets so that the data can be used for commercial purposes.
- JohnFen 4y ago> De-identification is a hard problem. It's such a hard problem that it is not achievable except in very specific circumstances, such as if the data is just a single single datapoint or if the data is aggregated with a lot of other data, and the original individual datapoints are deleted. In practice, whenever you hear anyone claim they've "anonymized" or "de-identified" your data, if you assume that's not true, you're much more likely to be right than wrong.