Every month, ETAI will be sharing a term or concept of the month that is related to ethical issues in biomedical research. The term of the month is part of our module’s milestones relating to engagement and reflection on ethics with the AI-READI team.
Term of March 2025: Reidentification Risk
Definition: Re-identification risk refers to the likelihood that anonymized or de-identified data can be linked back to specific individuals by using auxiliary information, computational techniques, or pattern recognition methods. In digital health research, re-identification risks arise when seemingly anonymous sensor data, such as accelerometer readings, contain unique patterns that can be exploited to infer identities.