{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.data-anonymization","code":"thing-q17006654","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q17006654/","name":"data anonymization","alternateNames":[],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.1.0-research.1","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Activities and processes","entryKind":"thing","plane":"ACT","domain":["ACT.ACT"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"Data anonymization is the process of modifying or releasing data so that individuals cannot reasonably be identified from it, including through linkage with other available information, with adequacy depending on the disclosure context and assumed attacker capabilities.","purpose":"Enable an AI agent to assess a data anonymization activity, record the evidence supporting its claimed protection, and decide whether its outputs are suitable for a specified use and access setting.","scope":{"in":["The input data, intended use, affected individuals or groups, and proposed output.","The anonymity definition, assessment unit, threat assumptions, and acceptance criteria adopted for the activity.","Selection and application of transformations that address direct and indirect identification.","Evaluation of identification risk, information loss, and evidence supporting the claimed protection.","Output release conditions, cumulative disclosure, and reassessment when assumptions change."],"out":["General information security and access administration beyond their role in the assessed release setting.","Pseudonymization and identity-key management as standalone activities.","Determining the authority or legal basis for collecting and processing the original data.","General data cleaning, integration, and quality management unrelated to anonymization effects.","Downstream analysis and model development beyond evaluating utility and disclosure through their outputs."],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["The activity must specify what identification capability it intends to prevent; a transformation justified only by confidentiality or formatting is insufficient to characterize anonymization.","Replacing names with stable tokens does not establish anonymity: the assessment must examine retained mappings and linkage through remaining attributes.","Encryption protects data through restricted access to a decryption capability; an anonymization claim requires assessment of what recipients can infer from the accessible output.","Masking or redacting direct identifiers is assessed alongside combinations of indirect identifiers, free text, metadata, and external linkage opportunities.","Aggregation or synthetic generation identifies a technique, while an anonymization claim additionally requires evidence under stated assumptions."],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"anonymity-claim-and-boundaries","name":"Anonymity claim and boundaries","description":"Defines the meaning, subject, and limits of the protection being claimed.","layers":[{"id":"definitions-and-acceptance","name":"Definitions and acceptance","description":"Records competing interpretations and the criterion selected for this activity.","findings":[{"id":"adopted-anonymity-definition","name":"Adopted anonymity definition","description":"Record whose definition is adopted, how it is operationalized, and which alternative interpretations remain relevant.","questions":[{"text":"Which authority, research framework, or organizational policy supplies the anonymity definition, and which version was adopted?","id":"adopted-anonymity-definition-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"What evidence would satisfy that definition, and how would another relevant interpretation change the conclusion?","id":"adopted-anonymity-definition-q02","kind":"definition"}]}]},{"id":"protected-unit-and-output","name":"Protected unit and output","description":"Bounds the protected entity and the complete artifact or interface being assessed.","findings":[{"id":"claim-coverage","name":"Claim coverage","description":"Record whether protection concerns people, events, households, or groups, and which outputs and supporting files the claim includes.","questions":[{"text":"Does the protection unit encompass all records about one person, including repeated events and linked tables?","id":"claim-coverage-q01","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"Which tables, metadata, documentation, generated examples, and query responses are included in the assessed output?","id":"claim-coverage-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"identification-threats","name":"Identification threats","description":"Models how the proposed output could expose identities, relationships, membership, or sensitive attributes.","layers":[{"id":"identifying-data-patterns","name":"Identifying data patterns","description":"Examines direct identifiers and distinctive combinations across structured and unstructured data.","findings":[{"id":"identification-path-inventory","name":"Identification path inventory","description":"Record candidate identification paths involving rare combinations, trajectories, relationships, text, and embedded metadata.","questions":[{"text":"Which attribute combinations, timestamps, locations, or relationship patterns could distinguish a protected unit?","id":"identification-path-inventory-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Where might identifiers survive in free text, images, filenames, document properties, or linked records?","id":"identification-path-inventory-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"adversaries-and-auxiliary-information","name":"Adversaries and auxiliary information","description":"Specifies plausible recipients, attackers, and external knowledge used in the assessment.","findings":[{"id":"attack-capability-assumptions","name":"Attack capability assumptions","description":"Record the capabilities and auxiliary information against which linkage and inference are evaluated.","questions":[{"text":"Which external datasets, personal knowledge, retained originals, or lookup mappings could each assessed actor access?","id":"attack-capability-assumptions-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which singling-out, linkage, membership, and attribute-inference attacks fall within the adopted criterion and threat model?","id":"attack-capability-assumptions-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"transformation-design-and-execution","name":"Transformation design and execution","description":"Connects identified threats to the transformations and execution details that produce the candidate output.","layers":[{"id":"techniques-and-parameters","name":"Techniques and parameters","description":"Records why transformations were selected and how they are configured.","findings":[{"id":"threat-to-transformation-mapping","name":"Threat-to-transformation mapping","description":"Associate suppression, generalization, perturbation, aggregation, synthetic generation, or other techniques with the identification paths they address.","questions":[{"text":"Which transformation addresses each identified disclosure path, and which paths remain untreated?","id":"threat-to-transformation-mapping-q01","kind":"action"},{"text":"What parameters govern the transformation, including any applicable privacy budget, clipping bounds, grouping rules, or suppression thresholds?","id":"threat-to-transformation-mapping-q02","kind":"measurement"}]}]},{"id":"execution-and-retained-linkage","name":"Execution and retained linkage","description":"Tracks the executed process and artifacts that could preserve or recreate identity links.","findings":[{"id":"output-lineage-and-linkage-artifacts","name":"Output lineage and linkage artifacts","description":"Record the exact input and implementation versions, transformation order, and custody of originals, mappings, and intermediate outputs.","questions":[{"text":"Which input snapshot, code version, parameter set, and execution record produced the candidate being evaluated?","id":"output-lineage-and-linkage-artifacts-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Who retains originals, token mappings, intermediate files, or other reconstruction aids, and how does that affect the anonymity claim?","id":"output-lineage-and-linkage-artifacts-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"protection-and-utility-evidence","name":"Protection and utility evidence","description":"Records what evaluation establishes about disclosure and fitness for the intended use.","layers":[{"id":"disclosure-evaluation","name":"Disclosure evaluation","description":"Distinguishes empirical attack results, structural metrics, and formal guarantees.","findings":[{"id":"protection-evidence-and-limitations","name":"Protection evidence and limitations","description":"Record evaluation methods, results, assumptions, and the limits of what each result supports.","questions":[{"text":"Which attacks and metrics were applied, with what success rates, uncertainty, baselines, and coverage of rare or vulnerable subgroups?","id":"protection-evidence-and-limitations-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"If a formal guarantee is claimed, what mechanism, protection unit, assumptions, and composition accounting connect it to the actual output?","id":"protection-evidence-and-limitations-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"analytical-utility","name":"Analytical utility","description":"Assesses whether transformation preserves the information required for named tasks.","findings":[{"id":"utility-loss-and-distributional-effects","name":"Utility loss and distributional effects","description":"Record task performance changes and distortions affecting small groups, unusual cases, and relationships between variables.","questions":[{"text":"Which intended analyses were evaluated, and how much did their results change against the agreed baseline?","id":"utility-loss-and-distributional-effects-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Which populations or phenomena become underrepresented or misleading, and should this require another transformation or a use restriction?","id":"utility-loss-and-distributional-effects-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"release-and-reassessment","name":"Release and reassessment","description":"Connects the evaluated candidate to its actual release conditions and subsequent disclosure context.","layers":[{"id":"release-decision","name":"Release decision","description":"Records the evidence and conditions supporting release, revision, or withholding.","findings":[{"id":"setting-specific-disposition","name":"Setting-specific disposition","description":"Bind the decision to the evaluated artifact, recipients, access mechanism, and unresolved limitations.","questions":[{"text":"Does the candidate meet the adopted protection and utility criteria for the actual recipients and access setting?","id":"setting-specific-disposition-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Should this version be released, revised, or withheld, and which evidence and unresolved limitations support that decision?","id":"setting-specific-disposition-q02","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"cumulative-disclosure-and-change","name":"Cumulative disclosure and change","description":"Tracks interactions with earlier outputs and changes that undermine assessment assumptions.","findings":[{"id":"composition-and-reassessment-triggers","name":"Composition and reassessment triggers","description":"Record related releases, repeated queries, new linkage opportunities, and practical responses when protection becomes doubtful.","questions":[{"text":"How do previous releases, overlapping populations, differencing opportunities, or repeated queries affect the combined disclosure assessment?","id":"composition-and-reassessment-triggers-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Which new auxiliary data, demonstrated attacks, or recipient changes trigger reassessment, and what response remains possible after distribution?","id":"composition-and-reassessment-triggers-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"evidence-and-external-alignment","name":"Evidence and external alignment","description":"What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.","layers":[{"id":"reported-evidence","name":"Reported evidence","description":"Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.","findings":[{"id":"evidence-confidence-notes","name":"Check these first","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these check these first hold for the sense of data anonymization this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-confidence-notes-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-kinds","name":"Kinds and varieties","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of data anonymization this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-kinds-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-standards-and-regulation","name":"Standards and regulation","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of data anonymization this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-real-world-use","name":"Real-world use","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of data anonymization this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-real-world-use-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-measurements","name":"Typical measurements","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of data anonymization this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-measurements-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards","name":"Failure modes and hazards","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of data anonymization this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-regional-variation","name":"Regional variation","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of data anonymization this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-regional-variation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-neighbours","name":"Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of data anonymization this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-neighbours-q01","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Remove or generalize identifiers in data the agent is authorized to process, following the controller's policy.","Assess and report the risk that released data could be re-identified.","Explain the difference between anonymized and pseudonymized data."],"mustNot":["Call data anonymous when people can still reasonably be identified from it.","Try to re-identify people in data released as anonymous.","Release a dataset publicly without the data controller's approval.","Link anonymized data with other sources in a way that defeats its protection."],"requiresHuman":["Approving a dataset as anonymous for publication or sharing."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Failed anonymization exposes people who were promised privacy.","Too much distortion can make data misleading for research that serves the public."],"affectedParties":["Data subjects","Researchers","Data controllers"]},"owners":{"steward":"The data controller answers for each dataset; data protection authorities oversee it.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"Q652289","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.data-anonymization","Wikidata: Q17006654 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17006654)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":["Adopted anonymity criterion: Named definition or framework, version, interpretation, and acceptance rule","Protection unit: Person, household, event, organization, or explicitly defined group","Input identifiability profile: Links to direct identifiers, quasi-identifiers, sensitive attributes, unstructured content, and metadata","Recipient and adversary capabilities: Specified actors, auxiliary data, access rights, resources, and prior knowledge","Transformation configuration: Ordered techniques, parameters, implementation versions, and retained mappings","Disclosure assessment results: Named metrics with their units, uncertainty, evaluation population, and attack conditions","Task-specific utility loss: Change in specified analytical metrics relative to an agreed baseline","Release setting: Public download, restricted recipient transfer, controlled environment, query interface, or specified alternative","Assessment state: Unassessed, under evaluation, criteria met for stated setting, criteria not met, or reassessment required"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["Identify direct, indirect, longitudinal, and cross-dataset identification paths.","Compare candidate transformations against explicit protection and utility criteria.","Evaluate a candidate output using documented attacks, metrics, and applicable formal guarantees.","Recommend release, revision, or withholding based on evidence for the specified setting.","Trace a released output to its input version, transformation configuration, and assessment.","Trigger reassessment when new releases, auxiliary data, recipients, or vulnerabilities change the original assumptions."]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Linkage with other information can reveal identities despite the removal of direct identifiers.","Excessive modification can undermine analytical accuracy and produce misleading conclusions.","Unsupported claims of anonymity can expose individuals to privacy loss and organizations to legal liability.","Changes in available data or analytical capabilities can weaken protection over time."]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["General Data Protection Regulation, European Union, which places truly anonymous data outside its scope.","ISO/IEC 20889, Privacy enhancing data de-identification terminology and classification of techniques, ISO and IEC."]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Data anonymization is used when personal data must support research, analysis or publication while limiting the identification of individuals.","It is assessed in relation to the intended recipients, available external information and conditions of access."]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q17006654: data anonymization","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17006654","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Data anonymization","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_anonymization","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Which competing technical, organizational, and jurisdiction-specific definitions should this model represent, and where do they yield incompatible anonymity judgments?","Which assessment methods and acceptance thresholds are defensible for high-dimensional, longitudinal, relational, and unstructured data?","How should the model represent uncertainty about future auxiliary information and adversary capabilities without implying permanent anonymity?","When do synthetic outputs or trained models require their own linked models, and what evidence must the anonymization activity retain about their disclosure behavior?","How should individual anonymity assessments connect to group-level harms that can persist even when identification of individuals is constrained?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q17006654/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q17006654/spec.json"],"providers":["Codex"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-12T09:00:48Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"not-applicable","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-07T10:10:26+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.","interaction.recognition":"Data anonymization is a procedure whose effectiveness cannot be established from visual appearance."},"score":1.0}}