Published on April 11th, 2022
PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is any data that could potentially identify or deanonymize an individual. This can be used alone or with other information to identify a person and can include things ranging from passport information to contact information. The technical definition of PII varies between institutions, however, the core principles of identifiability remain consistent. In addition to the more direct notion of a single piece of information constituting PII, another piece of unobtrusive info may become PII if related information is released that can make the information in question an identifier. As such, it is always important to understand how information on a person is dispersed and to understand your institution's policies and definitions regarding PII.