Anonymization is the process of deleting or modifying personal data so that it is impossible to identify a specific person from it in any way. The goal is to transform sensitive data into a form that does not allow it to be associated with a particular individual, even using other available information. It is a key privacy tool that enables further work with data (e.g., for statistical analysis, research, or testing) without violating legislation such as GDPR.
Properly anonymised data is no longer considered personal data and is therefore not subject to the strict rules of its protection. It is important to distinguish anonymization from pseudonymization, in which direct identifiers (such as a name) are replaced by an artificial code (pseudonym). For pseudonymised data, there is still the possibility of reverse identification of a person using additional information (e.g., a key), while for full anonymization, this option is permanently excluded. Anonymization techniques include, for example, generalization (replacing the exact age with an age range) or data obfuscation.
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