title: An approach for de-identification of point locations of livestock premises for further use in disease spread modeling.
abstract: We describe a method for de-identifying point location data used for disease spread modeling to allow data custodians to share data with modeling experts without disclosing individual farm identities. The approach is implemented in an open-source software program that is described and evaluated here. The program allows a data custodian to select a level of de-identification based on the K-anonymity statistic. The program converts a file of true farm locations and attributes into a file appropriate for use in disease spread modeling with the locations randomly modified to prevent re-identification based on location. Important epidemiological relationships such as clustering are preserved to as much as possible to allow modeling similar to those using true identifiable data. The software implementation was verified by visual inspection and basic descriptive spatial analysis of the output. Performance is sufficient to allow de-identification of even large data sets on desktop computers available to any data custodian.
authors.affiliation: Livestock Poultry Health Division, Clemson University, Columbia, SC 29224, USA. Electronic address: mmarti5@clemson.edu.
authors.forename: Michael K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Livestock Poultry Health Division, Clemson University, Columbia, SC 29224, USA.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Helm
authors.affiliation: U.S Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services, Science Technology and Analysis Services, Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health, 2150 Centre Avenue, Building B, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Patyk
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D000818:Animals; D000068240:Data Anonymization; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D058751:Livestock; D012984:Software
keywords: Confidentiality; K-anonymity; Modeling; Privacy; Random permutation; Simulation