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A Daily Lexicon of Trustworthy Data

342·08

personally identifiable information

/ˌpɜːrsəˈnæli aɪˈdɛntɪˌfaɪəbəl ˌɪnfərˈmeɪʃən/ - n.

1 [colloq.] The fields everyone agreed were sensitive, in the one table nobody scanned.Keep. Punchy.This is the problem.

Working definition

2. Data that, alone or combined with other data, can be linked to a specific individual.

Promoted

Seen in the wild · 1

NIST Asked Where the Data Came From; The Pipeline Went QuietOwner Missing

See also

data classificationA four-tier scheme under which everything is filed as 'Internal' to avoid the conversation.
data discoveryThe tool whose first scan is reclassified internally as an incident.
data minimizationThe principle that lost, by unanimous vote, to a roadmap item called 'data we might need to train on later.'
protected health informationData protected by everyone who assumed someone else was protecting it.