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Abstract:
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With the exception of synthetic data (e.g., Reiter 2002, 2005) and a few other methods (Kim 1986, Dandekar, Cohen, and Kirkendal 2002), masking methods and resultant public-use files are seldom justified in terms of valid analytic properties. If a file has valid analytic properties, then the analytic characteristics can be used as a starting point for re-identification using analytic methods only (Lambert 1993, Fienberg 1997). In this paper, we describe a general method for building a synthetic data file having valid analytic properties. While re-identification in the synthetic files is primarily based on analytic properties, it is possible to speed up and increase re-identification using a combination of analytic and computerized record linkage procedures.
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