zlacker

>>zoobab+(OP)
I'm a programmer in the GP data analysis world. We use the term 'pseudonymization' for this kind of data. 'Anonymization' is used solely to refer to, say, 'the sum total of diabetes patients this practice has' (that would be anonymous patient data; it would not be anonymous relative to the GP office this refers to): Aggregated data that can no longer be reduced to a single individual at all.

The term raises questions: Okay, so, what does it mean? How 'pseudo' is psuedo? And that's the point: When you pseudonimize data, you must ask those questions and there is no black and white anymore.

My go-to example to explain this is very simple: Let's say we reduce birthdate info to just your birthyear, and geoloc info to just a wide area. And then I have an pseudonimized individual who is marked down as being 105 years old.

Usually there's only one such person.

I invite everybody who works in this field to start using the term 'pseudonimization'.

>>rzwits+e6
A related/derivative concept that ties into the existing lexicon is name Vs pseudonym.

Bitcoin for example, uses pseudonyms... not anonymity. A pen name or a hn username is a pseudonym. A voting system needs to be anonymous not pseudo-anonymous^, by using a pseudonym. If each voter had a secret number that is attached to each vote, that is a pseudonym.

"L is 32 years old. She works as a nurse in Moscow." - L is a pseudonym. It isn't anonymous even though the name is ommitted.

^This can get grey, as even a piece of paper with an X on it will carry certain metadata or related data: which voting booth, etc. But, the goal is anonymity. IE, the X cannot be tied to anything else.

>>dalbas+ai
Rektor Seymour Skinner: "A certain agitator let's call her Lisa S. no that's too obvious let's say L. Simpson." [S07E05]