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Datafly Anonymization |
Citation:
Abstract
We present a computer program named Data
y that maintains anonymity in medical data by
automatically generalizing, substituting, inserting and removing information as appropriate with-
out losing many of the details found within the data. Decisions are made at the eld and record
level at the time of database access, so the approach can be used on the
y in role-based security
within an institution, and in batch mode for exporting data from an institution. Often organiza-
tions release and receive medical data with all explicit identi ers, such as name, address, phone
number, and Social Security number, removed in the incorrect belief that patient con dentiality
is maintained because the resulting data look anonymous; however, we show that in most of these
cases, the remaining data can be used to re-identify individuals by linking or matching the data
to other databases or by looking at unique characteristics found in the elds and records of the
database itself. When these less apparent aspects are taken into account, each released record can
be made to ambiguously map to many possible people, providing a level of anonymity which the
user determines.
L. Sweeney
Datafly: a system for providing anonymity in medical data.
Database Security, XI: Status and Prospects,
T. Lin and S. Qian (eds), Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 1998.
(PDF)
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