Nonpersonal

Nonpersonal, an adjective used in information governance and privacy contexts, describes data or information that does not identify a person or refer to a private individual. In privacy discourse, it is contrasted with personal data, which is data that directly or indirectly identifies an individual.

In practice, nonpersonal data includes aggregated statistics, anonymized data, or data stripped of identifiers such that a specific person cannot be reasonably determined.

Even when data is nonpersonal, risks may remain if it is combined with other datasets or with sufficient attributes to reidentify individuals.

Legal frameworks commonly define personal data and set restrictions on processing; nonpersonal data may fall outside strict personal-data protections, but there are ongoing debates about when anonymization is sufficient to render data nonpersonal.

Examples include regional energy usage statistics, anonymized health indicators presented in aggregate form, or environmental measurements that do not reveal individual identities.

Organizations governing nonpersonal data advocate standards for anonymization, data minimization, and secure sharing to balance research utility with privacy and rights considerations.