Privacy glossary
The terms you meet when using AI on information about people, in plain language.
- Anonymization
- Removing or changing details in a text so that the person it is about can't be identified.
- Pseudonymization
- Replacing identifying details with placeholders, with the replacement map kept separately. Whoever holds the map can restore the details, so the data usually still counts as data about a person. Ploni's numbered placeholders and replacement map work this way.
- De-identification
- Removing or replacing the details that identify a person. Often used loosely alongside anonymization.
- PII
- Personally identifiable information, the common American term close to personal data.
- Redaction
- Deleting or covering details in a document so they can't be read.
- Personal data
- Information about a person who can be identified, directly or indirectly.
- Direct identifier
- A detail that points to a person by itself: name, ID number, phone, email.
- Indirect identifier
- A detail that doesn't identify alone but does in combination: home town, job, age, an event.
- Identifying description
- A phrase that points to someone without naming them, such as "the only doctor in the kibbutz".
- Sensitive data
- Data that needs special protection, such as medical information.
- Controller (בעל שליטה)
- Whoever decides the purposes of processing a database. Amendment 13 added this term to Israeli law, similar to the European "controller".
- Holder (מחזיק)
- Whoever processes data for the controller, such as a service provider.
- Data protection officer (DPO)
- The person responsible for privacy compliance in an organisation. Amendment 13 requires some organisations to appoint one.
- Amendment 13
- An amendment to Israel's Protection of Privacy Law, in force since 14 August 2025, that strengthened enforcement.
- Air-gapped network
- A network with no internet connection. Installing there keeps the text inside the organisation.
General information only, not legal advice.