National Statement Navigator
Question 4a
Do my activities only use collections of information or data where:
- all personal identifiers have been removed before being received by researchers;
- and
- researchers explicitly agree to prevent and not to attempt re-identification?
More information
What are "personal identifiers"?
This will vary depending on context, and range from obvious identifiers such as names, residential addresses, and phone numbers; to non-obvious identifiers such as IP Addresses, hardware identifiers (e.g. from phones or smart devices carried on a person); to combinations of identifiers which in isolation would be unlikely to personally identify a person. An example of the latter is an observation combining age, gender, and height among a small total group of observations. While one factor alone (e.g. estimated age) may not identify a person, multiple factors combined can identify a person in a group (e.g. a woman with an age over 60 and height of 185cm is likely to be pretty identifiable in a group). The more factors that are observed, the more likely this is.
What is "explicitly agree"?
This means a direct statement by the researchers declaring that they will prevent and not attempt re-identification. This often takes the form of a written and signed letter.
Where can I find out more?
We suggest you contact us here if you are unsure whether this applies to your project.