A personal identifier is any form of personal name, user name, numerical identifier, address, or combination of these that identify a specific person. Personal identifiers are essential for many systems, for example to be able to list past purchases, or to personalise and application. However, personal identifiers can also be a privacy risk if data is exposed. Anonymisation removes personal identifiers, and often this is deemed sufficient privacy protection, including in much data protection legislation – even if the data includes personal information, surely it is not a problem if you don't know who it refers to? However, there can still be privacy risks if it is possible to reconstruct the identity from dispersed facts in the data. Furthermore, even anonymised and aggregated data can pose a risk to personal data sovereignty.
Used in glossary entries: data protection legislation