k-Anonymity: Protecting Individual Privacy in Released Data

k-Anonymity is a formal privacy model introduced by Latanya Sweeney in 2002 to protect individuals when personal data is released for research or public use. It requires that every record in a published dataset be indistinguishable from at least k−1 other records with respect to a designated set of quasi-identifying attributes — such as age, gender, and ZIP code — preventing re-identification by linking released data to external sources.