In this episode, Sean sat down with Jack Godau to dive deep into the world of pseudoanonymization. They started by discussing Jack's career trajectory working with highly sensitive data and how that experience shapes his engineering mindset. Jack shared how pseudoanonymization differs from anonymization, explaining its value for maintaining data utility while complying with stringent regulations like GDPR.
Jack also walked us through the challenges and key components of building a pseudoanonymization engine, including the complexities of handling re-identification risks, ensuring scalability, and optimizing performance for large datasets. He shared insights on the trade-offs between data protection and usability, and whether building these systems in-house is worth the investment for startups. Finally, they explored where the field is heading, especially as data privacy concerns continue to grow.