CURATION AND COMPLIANCE IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SENSITIVE COLLECTIONS: Anonymization of Medico-Legal Reports in Light of the Brazilian General Data Protection Law

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The digitization of documentary collections produced by public institutions expands opportunities for information preservation and access while simultaneously increasing challenges related to privacy and the protection of sensitive personal data. In this context, the medico-legal reports maintained by the Institute of Social Medicine and Criminology of São Paulo (IMESC) are particularly significant, as the institution's collection comprises approximately 850,000 documents containing highly sensitive personal information. This article aims to analyze strategies for aligning such collections with the requirements of the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD), with a particular focus on anonymization and digital curation. The study is based on a bibliographic and documentary review drawing upon literature from the fields of Information Science, Archival Science, Bioethics, and Data Protection. The findings indicate that the primary anonymization techniques currently employed are k-anonymity, l-diversity, t-closeness, and differential privacy. Although differential privacy is widely regarded as the most robust approach from a mathematical perspective, the combination of k-anonymity, l-diversity, and t-closeness remains the most commonly adopted strategy in governmental and medico-legal contexts due to its operational feasibility and its ability to preserve the informational utility of data. The study concludes that anonymization, when combined with digital curation and information governance practices, constitutes a fundamental mechanism for protecting sensitive data, enabling documentary preservation, scientific knowledge production, and the safeguarding of data subjects' fundamental rights. Conference abstract published in the proceedings of TOI2026 — XII Congresso Internacional em Tecnologia e Organização da Informação. ISSN 2965-4130. Original publication in Doity