IRD backtracks on technique used to anonymise personal details

The IRD has backtracked on a controversial safety techique that is used to anonymise people's personal details. The organisation had been relying on a technique called "hashing" when it handed over taxpayers' information like names and phone numbers to social media platforms for marketing campaigns. Initially, the IRD said "hashing" was reliable. But legal and computer experts say it isn't - and now the IRD is taking another look, Phil Pennington reports.