***

title: PII and PCI Redaction
description: Automatically redact sensitive information from transcriptions
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

<Badge color="purple">
  Real-Time
</Badge>

Redaction allows you to identify and mask sensitive information from transcriptions to protect privacy and comply with data protection regulations. The Pulse STT API supports two types of redaction: PII (Personally Identifiable Information) and PCI (Payment Card Information).

## Enabling Redaction

Add `redact_pii` and/or `redact_pci` parameters to your WebSocket connection query parameters. Both parameters default to `false`. Options: `true`, `false`.

### Real-Time WebSocket API

```javascript
const url = new URL("wss://waves-api.smallest.ai/api/v1/pulse/get_text");
url.searchParams.append("language", "en");
url.searchParams.append("encoding", "linear16");
url.searchParams.append("sample_rate", "16000");
url.searchParams.append("redact_pii", "true");
url.searchParams.append("redact_pci", "true");

const ws = new WebSocket(url.toString(), {
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
  },
});
```

## Redaction Types

### PII Redaction (`redact_pii`)

When `redact_pii=true` is enabled, the following types of personally identifiable information are automatically identified and redacted:

* **Names**: First names and surnames
* **Addresses**: Street addresses and locations
* **Phone numbers**: Various phone number formats

Redacted PII items are replaced with placeholder tokens like `[FIRSTNAME_1]`, `[FIRSTNAME_2]`, `[PHONENUMBER_1]`, etc.

### PCI Redaction (`redact_pci`)

When `redact_pci=true` is enabled, the following types of payment card information are automatically identified and redacted:

* **Credit card numbers**: 16-digit credit/debit card numbers
* **CVV codes**: Card verification values
* **ZIP codes**: Postal/ZIP codes
* **Account numbers**: Bank account numbers

Redacted PCI items are replaced with placeholder tokens like `[CREDITCARDCVV_1]`, `[ZIPCODE_1]`, `[ACCOUNTNUMBER_1]`, etc.

## Output Format

When redaction is enabled, the transcription text contains placeholder tokens instead of the original sensitive information. The response also includes a `redacted_entities` array listing all the redacted entity placeholders.

### Sample Response with Redaction

```json
{
  "session_id": "sess_12345abcde",
  "transcript": "[CREDITCARDCVV_1] and expiry [TIME_2] slash 34.",
  "is_final": true,
  "is_last": true,
  "full_transcript": "Hi, my name is [FIRSTNAME_1] [FIRSTNAME_2] You can reach me at [PHONENUMBER_1] and I paid using my Visa card [ZIPCODE_1] [ACCOUNTNUMBER_1] with [CREDITCARDCVV_1] and expiry [TIME_1].",
  "language": "en",
  "languages": ["en"],
  "redacted_entities": [
    "[CREDITCARDCVV_1]",
    "[TIME_2]"
  ]
}
```

## Response Fields

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>
        Field
      </th>

      <th>
        Type
      </th>

      <th>
        When Included
      </th>

      <th>
        Description
      </th>
    </tr>
  </thead>

  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        `redacted_entities`
      </td>

      <td>
        array
      </td>

      <td>
        `redact_pii=true`

         or 

        `redact_pci=true`
      </td>

      <td>
        List of redacted entity placeholders (e.g., 

        `[FIRSTNAME_1]`

        , 

        `[CREDITCARDCVV_1]`

        )
      </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td>
        `transcript`
      </td>

      <td>
        string
      </td>

      <td>
        Always
      </td>

      <td>
        Transcription text with redacted entities replaced by placeholder tokens
      </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td>
        `full_transcript`
      </td>

      <td>
        string
      </td>

      <td>
        `full_transcript=true`

         AND 

        `is_final=true`
      </td>

      <td>
        Cumulative transcript with redacted entities (when 

        `full_transcript=true`

         is enabled)
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

## Redaction Placeholder Format

Redacted entities are replaced with placeholder tokens following the pattern:

* `[ENTITYTYPE_N]` where `ENTITYTYPE` indicates the type of information (e.g., `FIRSTNAME`, `PHONENUMBER`, `CREDITCARDCVV`, `ZIPCODE`, `ACCOUNTNUMBER`)
* `N` is a sequential number starting from 1 to uniquely identify each instance

Examples:

* `[FIRSTNAME_1]`, `[FIRSTNAME_2]` - First names
* `[PHONENUMBER_1]` - Phone numbers
* `[CREDITCARDCVV_1]` - Credit card CVV codes
* `[ZIPCODE_1]` - ZIP/Postal codes
* `[ACCOUNTNUMBER_1]` - Account numbers

<Note>
  For the highest level of protection and effective compliance auditing, enable both `redact_pii=true` and `redact_pci=true` flags in your request.

  Additionally, use the `redacted_entities` array in the response as an audit trail to track what data has been redacted from each transcript.
</Note>

## Compliance and Privacy

Redaction helps with compliance requirements for:

* **HIPAA**: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (healthcare data)
* **GDPR**: General Data Protection Regulation (EU data protection)
* **CCPA**: California Consumer Privacy Act (California data protection)
* **PCI DSS**: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (payment card data)
* **SOC 2**: System and Organization Controls (security and privacy)

<Info>
  Note: Redaction is a tool to help protect sensitive information, but it should be used as part of a comprehensive data protection strategy. Always consult with legal and compliance teams to ensure your implementation meets regulatory requirements.
</Info>