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What is the difference between anonymised and pseudonymised data?
Anonymised data has been altered so individuals cannot be identified by any reasonably likely means, so privacy laws generally no longer treat it as personal data. Pseudonymised data replaces direct identifiers with codes, but the person could still be re-identified using extra information, so it usually remains personal data.
Replacing a customer name with an ID number is pseudonymisation. If you keep a lookup table, or if the remaining fields (postcode, birth date, purchase history) could single someone out, the data is still linkable to a person.
True anonymisation is hard. Techniques include aggregation, removing or generalising fields, and adding noise. Small groups are risky: a count of one in a small area may identify someone. Pseudonymisation is still valuable as a safeguard, but check the specific legal tests that apply to you.
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