Personally identifiable information includes direct identifiers such as name, Social Security number, and account numbers, and indirect identifiers that become identifying in combination, such as date of birth with ZIP code.
Definitions vary across statutes, and privacy laws increasingly use broader concepts such as personal information or personal data.
Alternative Names:
PII, Personal Data
Why it Matters?
Litigation files are dense with this material: medical records, employment files, financial documents, and productions containing employee and customer data. That means a firm's breach exposure derives from its clients' data as much as its own, and court filing rules require redaction of specific identifiers. Discovery productions containing large volumes of third-party personal information also raise their own protective order and handling obligations.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Does PII include indirect identifiers?
What identifiers must be redacted from court filings?
