Private record linkage with Bloom filters

In many record linkage applications, identifiers have to be encrypted to preserve privacy. Therefore, a method for approximate string comparison in private record linkage is needed. We describe a new method of approximate string comparison in private record linkage. The main idea is to store q-grams sets derived from identifier values in Bloom filters and compare them bitwise across databases. This exploits the cryptographic features of Bloom filters while nevertheless allowing the calculation of string similarities. We show that the proposed method compares quite well to evaluating string comparison functions with plain text values of identifiers.

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