Google tried to anonymize health care data and failed:
On July 19, NIH contacted Google to alert the company that its researchers had found dozens of images still included personally identifying information, including the dates the X-rays were taken and distinctive jewelry that patients were wearing when the X-rays were taken, the emails show.
Google almost made 100,000 chest X-rays public — until it realized personal data could be exposed
This article comes across as a warning, but it’s a success story. Smart people thought they could anonymize data, someone noticed they couldn’t, the lawyers got involved, and the project was called off.
That’s how the system is supposed to work.