Zink

[deepanwadhwa]

Submitting Author: Deepan Wadhwa (@deepanwadhwa)
Package Name: Zink
One-Line Description of Package: Anonymize any type of entities in text data.
Repository Link (if existing): https://github.com/deepanwadhwa/zink
EiC: @coatless

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Description

Valuable research, particularly in sensitive fields like healthcare, often faces delays or cancellations due to challenges in anonymizing private data. Current tools can lack the necessary capabilities to handle diverse information securely. Zink addresses that need by effectively anonymizing any type of sensitive detail within text, enabling important studies to proceed while protecting privacy.

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Scope

• Please indicate which category or categories this package falls under:

  • Data retrieval
  • Data extraction
  • Data processing/munging
  • Data deposition
  • Data validation and testing
  • Data visualization
  • Workflow automation
  • Citation management and bibliometrics
  • Scientific software wrappers
  • Database interoperability

Domain Specific

• Geospatial
• Education

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• Explain how and why the package falls under these categories (briefly, 1-2 sentences).

• This anonymization tool falls squarely under data processing and munging because its core function is to transform text data—a common format in scientific workflows—into a state suitable for further analysis. By altering or removing private information, it 'munges' the raw input, enabling researchers to ethically and effectively work with otherwise restricted datasets.

• For community partnerships, check also their specific guidelines as documented in the links above. Please note any areas you are unsure of:

• Who is the target audience and what are the scientific applications of this package?

• Any researchers who are working with unstructured text data which contains any type of sensitive information.

• Are there other Python packages that accomplish similar things? If so, how does yours differ?

• This is an optimal tool for anonymization as it runs locally (even on CPUs) and it can anonymize entities in a zero-shot manner, basically any type of entity. It is extremely fast as it uses an onnx model. I have not come across any python package which does what zink does.

• Any other questions or issues we should be aware of:

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