A subject access request reply is the package you give a person who exercises the right of access under UK GDPR Art. 15. A bulk log or ticket export is exactly the kind of request the Court of Appeal addressed in Ittihadieh v 5-11 Cheyne Gardens RTM Co Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 121: a controller's search has to be reasonable and proportionate, not exhaustive, and a request can be treated as manifestly excessive under UK GDPR Art. 12(5) where it plainly is. Before you disclose whatever the search turns up, you strip PII that belongs to other people. anonym.plus marks those details on your own device.
When this applies
An individual asks what information you hold on them. The export pulls logs and tickets that also name other customers and staff, and — per Ittihadieh — you are not expected to mine every system in the business to find every last mention of them.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the export in anonym.plus on your device.
- The tool flags names, emails, phones, and account IDs.
- Keep the requesting person's own records intact.
- Mark every other person's PII for removal.
- Swap or black out each flagged item.
- Save the clean export on your machine.
What you need to provide
- The export file (CSV, JSON, PDF, or document bundle).
- An operator: Replace for readable copies, Redact for full removal.
- An allow-list holding the requesting person's identifiers.
PII entity types detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Names | PERSON | other customer → [PERSON] |
| Contact | EMAIL_ADDRESS | k.byrne@example.co.uk → [EMAIL] |
| Accounts | CREDIT_CARD | 4111 1111 ... → [CARD] |
| Identifiers | UK_NINO | QQ 12 34 56 C → [NINO] |
| Contact | PHONE_NUMBER | 0161 496 0123 → [PHONE] |
| Location | LOCATION | delivery address → [ADDRESS] |
Compliance achieved
- Supports a lawful access reply under UK GDPR Art. 15 (DSAR).
- Reflects the proportionate-search standard from Ittihadieh v 5-11 Cheyne Gardens RTM Co Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 121 — a reasonable search, not an exhaustive one.
- Supports treating a plainly disproportionate request as excessive under UK GDPR Art. 12(5), without excusing a normal-sized export from redaction.
- Hides other people's PII so the disclosure stays specific to the requester.
- Runs offline, so raw personal data never reaches a vendor cloud.
- Handles CSV and JSON exports as well as document bundles.
Anonymise subject access replies offline — see plans & start free →
Limitations & cautions
The tool flags PII; you decide what to share. A SAR gives a person their own records, not other people's. Ittihadieh lets you scope a reasonable search, but it does not excuse skipping redaction on whatever the search does return. Sensitive fields like a full card or National Insurance number may need extra masking under other rules. Review each flag first.
Frequently asked questions
Whose details go into a SAR reply?
Only the requesting person's personal data. Strip anything tied to other people or staff. anonym.plus flags both categories in the export so a human can keep one and remove the rest before the reply goes out.
Do I have to search every system for a bulk request?
No. Ittihadieh v 5-11 Cheyne Gardens RTM Co Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 121 confirms the search only has to be reasonable and proportionate, considering cost and difficulty, not exhaustive across every log and ticketing system you own. A request so broad it becomes disproportionate can also be treated as manifestly excessive under Art. 12(5).
Does it work on a bulk CSV export?
Yes. Tidy columns and free-text fields are both scanned, and a steady label map keeps rows for one person joinable after the swap, which matters for a ticket export spanning years.
Is anything sent to the cloud?
No. Work is local. The export stays on your device, which removes the breach risk of uploading raw personal data, including anyone else's details still sitting in the same log.