Shared Sight: independent audit of anonymisation
An external audit of how Shared Sight removes donors’ identities and blurs other people. It found the method works as described, and made seven recommendations.
Shared Sight lets implant wearers donate anonymised samples of what their implants see to research on low vision. This audit tested whether the programme does what it says: whether donors’ identities, device serial numbers and locations are removed before samples leave the device, whether other people’s faces are blurred, and whether deletion requests are honoured.
The auditors examined the code that runs on devices, tested samples from a sample of donors who agreed to take part, and attempted to re-identify donors from the samples held at the Chiba Centre.
Key findings
- Anonymisation and blurring work as described for Shared Sight samples.
- Deletion requests were honoured within thirty days in every case tested.
- Seven recommendations, including clearer consent information for donors with low literacy and a public register of every project that receives data. The audit’s scope was Shared Sight samples only.
How to cite
External audit for the Data and Ethics Committee (2025). Shared Sight: independent audit of anonymisation. KF-R-2025-03. Tokyo: Kiroshi Foundation. kiroshi.org/research/publications/kf-r-2025-03/
For the full text, write to research@kiroshi.org.