Malin, B., L. Sweeney, and E. Newton, "Trail Re-Identification: Learning Who You Are From Where You Have Been" Mellon University, Laboratory for International Data Privacy (Pittsburgh, PA: March 2003).
Existing Citations
data de-identification (p.1): Until recently, it was believed that if data looked anonymous, it was anonymous. Tables, in which each row of information related to a person, were shared somewhat freely provided none of the columns included explicit identifiers, such as name, address, or Social Security number. This kind of “de-identified” data can
often be linked to other tables that do include explicit identifiers (“identified data”) to re-identify people by name. Fields appearing in both de-identified and identified tables link the two, thereby relating names to the subjects of the de-identified data. (†1647)
reidentification (p.1): Consider online consumers, who have the IP addresses of their computers logged at each website visited.
Many falsely believe they cannot be identified. The term “reidentification” refers to correctly relating seemingly anonymous data to explicitly identifying information (such as the name or address) of the person who is the subject of those data. Reidentification has historically been associated with data released from a single data holder. (†1646)
