Records / De-identification rules
A stand-in stays the same within a file, unless the use needs more
By default a person keeps one stand-in within each file and gets another in the next, so the clues about them cannot be gathered across the archive. Keeping one stand-in across the whole archive is a choice made for a buyer's stated use, and the linked copy then needs its own linkage test. Realistic stand-ins (fictional names) are offered for deliveries.
Dated Sep 2023Source checked 15 Oct 2026Page out of reach at the last check, 16 Oct 2026Basis: our standard
“an attacker who reconstructs a pseudonym in many sentences is more likely to re-identify the person by linking auxiliary information about the person contained in the sentences.”
Lukas et al., Analyzing Leakage of Personally Identifiable Information in Language Models, IEEE S&P, checked 2023
Everything read from this source (1)Archived copy, 2 Oct 2026
NIST IR 8053, p. 12 (AOL search logs, 2006), checked Oct 2015
Everything read from this source (3)Archived copy, 10 Oct 2026
NIST SP 800-188, p. 51, checked Sep 2023
It is shown on its own, not counted into a figure.