NIST guidance on de-identification of personal information (2015)

De-identification removes identifying information from a dataset so that individual data cannot be linked with specific individuals. De-identification can reduce the privacy risk associated with collecting, processing, archiving, distributing or publishing information. De-identification thus attempts to balance the contradictory goals of using and sharing personal information while protecting privacy. Several U.S laws, regulations and policies specify that data should be deidentified prior to sharing. In recent years researchers have shown that some de-identified data can sometimes be re-identified. Many different kinds of information can be de-identified, including structured information, free format text, multimedia, and medical imagery. This document summarizes roughly two decades of de-identification research, discusses current practices, and presents opportunities for future research. Read more here