Focused Personal Identifying Information Redaction

• US 20140136941A1
• Filed: 11/14/2012
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Avrahami, Shlomit, Fox, Joshua, Pelts, Michael, Kosharovsky, Yuri
• Granted Patent: US 9,892,278 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration

Abstract

Personal information is retrieved from at least one data source and personal information associated with a first individual is identified. A document is generated that is a version of a first document, wherein the personal information associated with the first individual cannot be discerned.

Claims

1. A method for redacting information in a first document, comprising:

retrieving personal information from at least one data source, by at least one computing processor;

identifying personal information associated with a first individual, by the at least one computing processor; and

generating, by the at least one computing processor, a second document that is a version of the first document, wherein the personal information associated with the first individual cannot be discerned.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining a variant of any of the personal information associated with the first individual; and

including the variant in the personal information associated with the first individual.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the identifying comprises identifying by an entity analysis technique.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the generating comprises locating within the first document any of the personal information associated with the first individual.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the generating comprises retaining within the second document personal information associated with a second individual.

6. The method according to claim 1 and further comprising performing the generating wherein the first document includes the personal information associated with the first individual and personal information associated with a second individual, and wherein the personal information associated with the first individual shares at least one data type with the personal information associated with the second individual.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying and creating are embodied in any of

a) computer hardware, and

b) computer software embodied in a computer-readable storage medium.

8. A system comprising:

at least one computing processor; and

a computer-readable storage media connected to the at least one computing processor, wherein the computer-readable storage media has stored thereon an information redacting program for controlling the at least one computing processor, and wherein the at least one computing processor is operative with the program to execute the program to;

retrieve personal information from at least one data source;

identify personal information associated with a first individual; and

generate a second document that is a version of the first document, wherein the personal information associated with the first individual cannot be discerned.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the at least one computing processor is further operative with the program to execute the program to:

determine a variant of any of the personally identifiable information associated with the first individual, and

include the variant in the personally identifiable information associated with the first individual.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein the identifying comprises identifying by an entity analysis technique.

11. The system according to claim 8, wherein the at least one computing processor is further operative with the program to execute the program to locate within the first document any of the personal information associated with the first individual.

12. The system according to claim 8, wherein generating the second document that is a version of the first document comprises retaining within the second document personal information associated with a second individual.

13. The system according to claim 8 wherein the first document includes the personal information associated with the first individual and personal information associated with a second individual, wherein the personal information associated with the first individual shares at least one data type with the personal information associated with the second individual.

14. A computer program product for redacting individual-related information in a first computer-readable document, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium; and

computer-readable program code embodied in the computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to cause at least one computing processor to;

retrieve personal information from at least one data source;

identify personal information associated with a first individual; and

generate a second document that is a version of the first document, wherein the personal information associated with the first individual cannot be discerned.

15. The computer program product according to claim 14 wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to cause the at least one computing processor to:

determine a variant of any of the personal information associated with the first individual, and

include the variant in the personal information associated with the first individual.

16. The computer program product according to claim 14 wherein the identifying comprises identifying by an entity analysis technique.

17. The computer program product according to claim 14 wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to cause the at least one computing processor to locate within the first document any of the personal information associated with the first individual.

18. The computer program product according to claim 14 wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to cause the at least one computing processor to retain within the second document personal information associated with a second individual.

19. The computer program product according to claim 14 wherein the first document includes the personal information associated with the first individual and personal information associated with a second individual, wherein the personal information associated with the first individual shares at least one data type with the personal information associated with the second individual.