An Example of De-Identification

SuperHungry de-identifies the dataset by removing the names before publishing, thinking that this equates to anonymising the dataset.

Albert’s de-identified record published by SuperHungry:

Name Albert Phua Favourite eatery Katong Fried Chicken

Date of birth

01/01/1990 Gender

Male

Favourite food 3-Piece Chicken Set, 33 past orders

Company ABC Pte Ltd

However, Albert can be re-identified by combining his de-identified record with other records (e.g. personal information from his social media profile).

Albert’s social media profile:

Name

Albert Phua Date of birth

01/01/1990 Gender

Male

Company ABC Pte Ltd

Any person with sufficient motivation can easily identify5 the person as Albert from the de-identified data if there are other publicly or easily available information to enable such re-identification. If the dataset or combined dataset is sensitive, further anonymisation will be required.