A formalization of record linkage and its application to data protection

Abstract

Re-identification and record linkage are tools used to measure disclosure risk in data privacy. Given two data files, record linkage establishes links between those records that correspond to the same individual. These links are often expressed in terms of probability distributions. This paper presents a review of a formalization of re-identification in terms of compatible belief functions. This formalization makes it possible to define the set of methods for re-identification that are relevant for the estimation of disclosure risk in privacy protection. Any re-identification method that does not fulfill the criteria for being in this set, may be discarded in a theoretical disclosure risk analysis. The focus in this paper is on providing examples of how this formalization can be applied in a few different scenarios in data privacy.