Dataset identity keys for privacy requests

In order for Fides to process a privacy request for a given dataset it must know which fields should be used to uniquely identify user data. Specifying an identity key for a dataset allows Fides to complete these tasks. Here we'll walk through defining an identity key for a dataset.

Defining the identity key for the dataset

In order to use your dataset for privacy requests, you must specify an identify key to indicate which field Fides should use to search for records.

The identity key must be assigned to a field that contains unique values that you would typically use to uniquely identify records in a database.

Expanding on our sample project, the most suitable identity key would be the email field because it is unique and identifiable.

postgres_dataset.yml

collections:
  - name: customer
    fields:
    - name: email
      data_categories:
      - user.contact.email
      fides_meta:           # Add Fides metadata section
        identity: email     # Specify this is the identity key and provide a name
        data_type: string   # Specify the expected data type
    - name: id
      data_categories: 
      - user.unique_id
      fides_meta:
        primary_key: True
    - name: name
      data_categories:
      - user.name
      fides_meta:
        data_type: string
        length: 40

Annotate data categories with CLI Defining entity relationships