Data re-identification

Okay kiddo, imagine you and your friends are playing a game of hide and seek in the playground. You all hide and one person has to find you. You will try to stay hidden so that the finder cannot find you.

Now let's say you are all playing another game where you have to wear a hat that has your name written on it. The finder will have an easier time finding you because they know your name and can call out to you.

This is kind of like what happens with data re-identification. When you share information, like your name or age, with someone, they can use that information to find out more about you. If they gather enough pieces of information, they can put them all together to identify who you are, even if you didn't give them your name.

This is concerning because sometimes we want to keep things private, like medical information or where we live. We don't want strangers knowing everything about us.

That's why it's important to be careful with what information we share and who we share it with. We can also use things like encryption or anonymization to protect our information from being re-identified.