Show HN: Uvx privacy-steward for PII removal in texts (github.com)

A new command-line interface (CLI) tool called "privacy-steward" has been introduced for redacting personally identifiable information (PII) from plain-text files using the OpenAI privacy-filter model, implemented natively in PyTorch. This innovative tool processes data entirely on the user’s machine, ensuring compliance with GDPR regulations by preventing data from being transferred to external servers. Unlike the official OpenAI CLI, privacy-steward supports zero-installation and directory batch processing, making it ideal for users needing to sanitize extensive datasets rapidly and efficiently. The privacy-steward tool boasts several technical advantages, including approximately 1.4 times faster throughput compared to the OpenAI alternative, a progress bar with estimated time of arrival (ETA), and an automatic per-file audit trail for improved tracking of processed documents. Users can replace detected entities with typed placeholders such as "<PRIVATE_PERSON>" or "<ACCOUNT_NUMBER>", while audit logs record essential details like entity type and confidence scores without exposing original text. This tool is particularly significant for organizations handling sensitive data, as it combines ease of use with robust performance, thereby facilitating better data privacy practices in machine learning and AI applications.