Anonymise

Municipality of Veenendaal

This algorithm helps employees of the Municipality of Veenendaal identify and anonymise privacy-sensitive information in documents.

Last change on 24th of February 2025, at 12:57 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Other algorithms
• Impact assessment: DPIA
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Organisation and business operations

Begin date

2025-01

Contact information

[e-mail]

Responsible use

Goal and impact

The purpose of the algorithm is to anonymise privacy-sensitive information in documents. There are laws and regulations that protect citizens' privacy and prevent misuse of personal data. These rules require anonymising personal data. In anonymisation, data is hidden so that it can no longer be used to identify a person. This protects the personal information of citizens and companies.

The municipality of Veenendaal uses this application to anonymise documents. The application provides suggestions for which data should be anonymised. It also indicates the legal basis that supports anonymisation. Employees using the application decide for themselves which data will be anonymised and the basis for doing so.

Considerations

The algorithm is trained to recognise privacy-sensitive information. It is limited to classification and therefore will not reveal content information. The algorithm helps improve the quality and accuracy of anonymisation, as well as increase the speed of anonymisation. This is important as laws and regulations, such as the Open Government Act (Woo) and the Electronic Publications Act (Wep), increase the amount of documents that need to be published by government agencies.

Human intervention

The algorithm results only act as a tool, with human intervention always needed for final anonymisation.

Risk management

To safeguard the privacy risks of the algorithm, the application undergoes constant evaluation and updates to address new threats and privacy challenges. Human oversight and intervention are embedded to correct errors.

Legal basis

Open Government Act

Electronic Publications Act

Links to legal bases

• Wet open overheid (WOO): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0045754/
• Wet elektronische publicaties (WEP): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0043961/

Impact assessment

Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA): https://www.autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/themas/basis-avg/praktisch-avg/data-protection-impact-assessment-dpia

Operations

Data

The category of personal data processed in the application depends on the document offered by the municipality. This can therefore be all types of personal data, depending on the publication requirement or purpose for which the solution is used. It may include the following personal data:

• name and address details;
• Contact details (e-mail address, telephone number);
• Signatures and initials;
• Content that is case type-related.

Special and sensitive personal data may be processed. Thus, theoretically, the following special/sensitive personal data may be processed:

• Data relating to health;
• Data revealing racial or ethnic origin;
• Data revealing political opinions;
• Data indicating religious or philosophical beliefs;
• Data evidencing trade union membership;
• Biometric data;
• Data relating to a person's sexual behaviour or preferences;
• Criminal data;
• BSN;
• Financial data

Technical design

The application uses deep learning models that analyse both visual and textual information to determine which data is considered privacy-sensitive. Deep learning is a technology that helps the application learn by looking at many examples and classifying them correctly. The algorithm recognises privacy-sensitive information and offers suggestions for anonymisation, including the legal bases for anonymisation. The employee then decides which information to anonymise and the legal basis for doing so.

External provider

eData B.V.