Datafly algorithm is an algorithm for providing anonymity in medical data. The algorithm was developed by Latanya Arvette Sweeney in 1997−98. Anonymization is achieved by automatically generalizing, substituting, inserting, and removing information as appropriate without losing many of the details found within the data. The method can be used on-the-fly in role-based security within an institution, and in batch mode for exporting data from an institution.Organizations release and receive medical data with all explicit identifiers -- such as name -- removed, in the erroneous belief that patient confidentiality is maintained because the resulting data look anonymous. However the remaining data can be used to re-identify individuals by linking or matching the data to other databases or by loo