US Patent 8069053 Systems and methods for de-identification of personal data

According to some embodiments, original data is retrieved from an original data source. The original data may be automatically searched for potential personal information, such as a person's name, address, or Social Security number. An obfuscation method may be selected from a plurality of potential obfuscation methods. The potential personal information in the original data may then be automatically replaced with fictional data in accordance with the selected obfuscation method.