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De-identification
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<p>De-identification is the process used to prevent someone's <a href="/facts/Personal_identity/HRfyp7qh">personal identity</a> from being revealed. For example, <a href="/facts/Data/AUBFN97o">data</a> produced during <a href="/facts/Human_subject_research/w57417CS">human subject research</a> might be de-identified to preserve <a href="/facts/Privacy_for_research_participants/1KLpQjLX">the privacy of research participants</a>. Biological data may be de-identified in order to comply with <a href="/facts/Health_Insurance_Portability_and_Accountability_Act/b40VtyEC">HIPAA</a> regulations that define and stipulate patient privacy laws. </p><p>When applied to <a href="/facts/Metadata/qt35z79C">metadata</a> or general data about identification, the process is also known as <a href="/facts/Data_anonymization/n3ffnk57">data anonymization</a>. Common strategies include deleting or masking <a href="/facts/Personal_identifier/jMdmbHoJ">personal identifiers</a>, such as <a href="/facts/Personal_name/jFhlnLd2">personal name</a>, and suppressing or generalizing <a href="/facts/Quasi-identifier/FCEEMn27">quasi-identifiers</a>, such as date of birth. The reverse process of using de-identified data to identify individuals is known as <a href="/facts/Data_re-identification/vPn56Dso">data re-identification</a>. Successful re-identifications cast doubt on de-identification's effectiveness. A systematic review of fourteen distinct re-identification attacks found "a high re-identification rate […] dominated by small-scale studies on data that was not de-identified according to existing standards". </p><p>De-identification is adopted as one of the main approaches toward data <a href="/facts/Privacy_protection/fcE3TNbC">privacy protection</a>. It is commonly used in fields of communications, multimedia, biometrics, <a href="/facts/Big_data/XGtrVg4z">big data</a>, cloud computing, <a href="/facts/Data_mining/AH53q5ac">data mining</a>, internet, social networks, and audio–video surveillance. </p>