Glossary

In everyday usage a “Pseudonym” is a false name, artist’s name or code name. The pseudonym makes it impossible to trace statements back to the author personally. The Federal Data Protection Act defines pseudonymization as “substituting a person’s name and other identifying characteristics with a label, in order to preclude identification of the data subject or to render such identification substantially difficult.” In other words: features that can identify the individual person – for example the name – are substituted with a code, for example a randomly selected number. All of the personal details have to be substituted so that it is not possible to identify a person.