JMStuart

Can you explain where in the SDLTM the path is held? Also, why would this be of concern unless you are sending your TM to someone else?

This is in a project TM, which was saved in the project folder "Tm", in the subfolder "en-GB". So yes, it goes out to the client or agency, it is not one of my own TMs. If you open the sdltm file in Notepad, you can search for the computer pathname and it occurs several times, without any obvious "modified by" or "created by" reference, like this:
<CultureName>en-GB</CultureName></Segment>2015-06-02 13:50:31computer_name\user_name2019-10-01 11:48:26

hmmm.. then change it(them), as you wish.

JMStuart

JMStuart said:

So yes, it goes out to the client or agency, it is not one of my own TMs

Why?  This doesn't happen automatically.  It will only go to your client or Agency if you consciously make it available.

I mean when the freelancer sends the "return package". The project TM would be included in the return package?

JMStuart

JMStuart said:

I mean when the freelancer sends the "return package". The project TM would be included in the return package?

No it isn't.  Return packages don't include the TM as it's not needed at all.  The recipient of your return package will check your translations and then update their own TM from the SDLXLIFF files which are the only files included in the return package.

You can verify this by unzipping the return package and looking inside.

How do you "unzip" a return package, Paul?

JMStuart

JMStuart said:

How do you "unzip" a return package, Paul?

If you have a decent file explorer you can probably do this just by looking inside, but if you only use the default windows tools add .zip to the end of the filename and unzip it.

Take a copy first in case you mess with it.

Thanks, Paul. Yes this works, adding .zip to the filename.
So that shows the workflow is as you said, the project TM has to be updated later by the agency.
The issue with personal data is now limited to the sdlxliff file, and of course one's own TM.
If anyone can say for sure what happens when you change the computer name and user name, in Windows?
Does this affect (mess up) the network settings, or any other settings?

JMStuart

You might also find this plugin interesting:

https://appstore.sdl.com/language/app/sdl-data-protection-suite/936/

There are a lot of features in here supporting anonymisation and pseudonymisation for your project files as well as your TM.

First, where on earth did you get the idea to open a database file in Notepad?!
Guessing from your question how to unzip a file you don't seem to know what you are doing... so my good advise is: do not mess with things you don't understand good enough.

And second, please call a spade a spade, to not confuse others - what you are talking about is NOT a path.
I suppose, you are guessing that it's a path from the backslash, right? Not everything containing a backslash i a path... This, in particular, is a user's login name. It has nothing to do with any path.

First, where on earth did you get the idea to open a database file in Notepad?!
Guessing from your question how to unzip a file you don't seem to know what you are doing... so my good advise is: do not mess with things you don't understand good enough.

And second, please call a spade a spade, to not confuse others - what you are talking about is NOT a path.
I suppose, you are guessing that it's a path from the backslash, right? Not everything containing a backslash i a path... This, in particular, is a user's login name. It has nothing to do with any path.

When discussing this issue of personal data stored by Trados, one often suggests looking inside the sdxliff file using a simple text editor like Windows Notepad. Of course you see lots of complex formatting/tags etc., but you can also see the personal data such as names, and search for where the names occur.
The sdltm file is another file saved by Trados, and you can look inside this file-type in the same way.
Merely looking inside these files like this is quite safe, provided you don't make any changes and save them.
Similarly, "unzipping" the return package in the way suggested is safe, you just have to remove the ".zip" ending again afterwards. The return package itself is not changed.
I vaguely recall hearing of this method but I wanted Paul to explain it for the benefit of other readers as well.

The computername\username which I found inserted in the sdltm file can be referred to as a "path", for example when it is used as a location in networking. It is not usually referred to as the user's login name, that would be the user account name (plus password).
Perhaps someone who knows about Windows as well as Trados programming can explain exactly why and how this path is used in the TM file.

It is true that the "user profile path" is different, something like this:
C:\Users\user_name

What we are talking about is the "user profile", shown in in the System Properties / User profiles window as the Computer Name + your User Account name.
computername\username

I had asked about the risks of simply changing the computer name and user name,
because there is a lot more to this, you have to make changes to the registry etc.,
and watch how the path is used as a location reference for networks.

Remember that the whole issue only arises when you have a personal computer name / user name which you would rather not publish. Even if the personal data are buried in some special format files, they can still be easily accessed by others. I was surprised to find names of translators going back many years in these Trados files...