Privacy
Regulated or sensitive data: read this before you apply
Somewhere in your files are Social Security numbers, health data or bank details. That rarely disqualifies you, but mention it at the start because it affects both the price and the steps.
In this guide
01
Sensitive data hides in ordinary places
Owners picture the HR filing cabinet, but email is the bigger risk: a customer snapping a check, a staff member's sick note, a W-9 sent in a supplier conversation. Tickets and shared drives collect the same.
Hence the early questions. Certain buyers rule out whole sectors: Ventra currently says no to legal, healthcare, financial services and accounting firms.
02
Exclude, scrub or walk away
- Exclude: buyers often keep employee and health records out. Spirit Airlines' passenger records were excluded from its archive sale.
- Scrub: buyers remove identifiers, sometimes through an outside partner. Buyers specialising in health data say they strip every one of the 18 HIPAA identifiers.
- Walk away: if the sensitive material cannot be separated, the deal may not be worth the risk.
Cleaning is never perfect, and honest buyers say so. One study showed 15 demographic details can single out 99.98% of Americans.
03
Before the first call
- Find where the sensitive material lives, including HR, payroll, medical, bank and card data, and anything involving children
- Decide what you will exclude entirely
- Ask your lawyer which rules apply to your industry
FAQ
Questions, answered
Does sensitive data rule my company out?
Usually not. Buyers exclude it or scrub it. Tell them up front.
How do buyers remove sensitive data?
By scrubbing identifiers before licensing, sometimes with an outside partner. Review cleaned samples yourself.
Do some buyers exclude regulated sectors?
Yes. For now, Ventra turns away legal, healthcare, financial services and accounting firms.
Find the buyers that fit your company
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Keep reading
Sources
Every number on this page links back to one of these.
- 1Ventra, terms of servicejoinventra.com
- 2Ventra, company data programjoinventra.com
- 3Rocher et al., Nature Communications (2019), re-identification from 15 attributesnature.com
- 4Bloomberg Law, Google aims to boost AI with purchase of Spirit Airlines datanews.bloomberglaw.com
- 5Polyshares, data handlingpolyshares.com
- 6Grepped, security pagegrepped.ai
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