Any information that can identify a specific person, alone or combined with other data, such as a name, email, or ID number.
Personally identifiable information, or PII, includes direct identifiers such as full names, phone numbers, email addresses, government ID numbers, and photos, as well as indirect details like birth dates or postcodes that can identify someone when combined. Laws use different terms; the GDPR, for example, uses the broader concept of personal data.
Businesses handle PII constantly, in customer records, employee files, and booking systems. A travel agency, for instance, may store passport numbers and dates of birth for clients. Protecting PII involves collecting only what is needed, restricting access, encrypting sensitive fields, keeping data only as long as necessary, and avoiding pasting it into tools that are not approved for it, including public AI chatbots. A breach of PII can bring legal penalties and lasting reputational harm.
An incident in which sensitive, protected, or confidential information is accessed, stolen, or disclosed without authorization.
Data Loss PreventionTools and policies, known as DLP, that detect and stop sensitive data from being shared, leaked, or moved outside approved channels.
GDPRGeneral Data Protection Regulation: the European Union's law governing how organizations collect, use, and protect personal data.
Synthetic DataArtificially generated data that mimics the patterns of real data, used for testing, training models, or sharing without exposing real records.
Web CookieA small text file a website stores in your browser to remember information such as login status, preferences, or shopping cart contents.
When US law requires a website privacy policy, which state privacy laws reach small businesses, and the sections your policy needs to cover.
How teachers and school leaders are using AI in classrooms and offices, and the FERPA and COPPA rules that decide which tools are safe to use with student data.
A step-by-step workflow for using AI to draft, differentiate and fact-check lesson materials, with prompts, a tool checklist and the privacy rules every teacher should follow.