A Science journal article entitled Unique In The Shopping Mall: On The Reidentifiability Of Credit Card Metadata deals with a version of the Mosaic Effect called “unicity” – i.e., how much outside information is needed, on average, to re-identify a specific individual. The article highlights how metadata captured in a number of financial transactions by an individual represented by the static identifier “7abc1a23” can re-identify them. An example of how Anonos BigPrivacy defeats the Mosaic Effect is provided below – each time you depress the button labeled “CLICK HERE TO OBSCURE NEXT PURCHASE” the next purchase is dynamically de-identified by replacing the static identifier “7abc1a23” with a different dynamic de-identifier (DDID) – the combination of which defeats unicity and the Mosaic Effect.

Without Anonos BigPrivacy, anyone can tell that the same person purchased four items in this example. With Anonos BigPrivacy, data about the DDIDs used to obscure the activities of user_id “7abc1a23” is retained, but is made available only to authorized parties under controlled conditions - it is not revealed to the outside world.

The Science journal article deals with credit card data which in some jurisdictions may not be considered sensitive or protected personal data. However, the ability of Anonos BigPrivacy to de-identify data at the point of data capture makes it easier to safely collect, combine, share, and publish data in a wide variety of diverse disciplines. As Big Data paves the way for new discoveries involving more sensitive and protected personal data (e.g., in life sciences, personalized and precision medicine), Anonos BigPrivacy enables breakthroughs while at the same time protecting the privacy of sensitive data sources on which new insights will depend. Anonos BigPrivacy technology modularizes technically enforced data governance by fusing data protection by default into data upon inception and carrying it forward for the life cycle of data; in this manner, researchers and other data users can leverage the full value of Big Data in compliance with federal, state and international requirements.