Confidentiality, disclosure, and data access : theory and practical applications for statistical agencies

There is a fundamental tension at the heart of every statistical agency mission. Each is charged with collecting high quality data to inform the national policy and enable statistical research. This necessitates dissemination of both summary and micro data. Each is also charged with protecting the confidentiality of survey respondents. This often necessitates the blurring of the data to reduce the probability of the re-identification of individuals. The tradeoff dilemma, which could well be stated as protecting confidentiality (avoiding disclosure) but optimizing access, has become more complex as both technological advances and public perceptions have altered in an information age. Fortunately, statistical disclosure techniques have kept pace with these changes. This volume is intended to provide a review of state-of-the-art techniques that directly address these issues from both a theoretical and practical perspective. It provides a review of research in the area of confidentiality and statistical disclosure techniques. A major section of the book provides an overview of new advances in the field of both economic and demographic data in measuring disclosure risk and information loss. It also presents new information on the different approaches taken by statistical agencies in disseminating data - ranging from licensing agreements, to secure access and provides a new survey of what statistical disclosure techniques are used by statistical agencies around the world. This is complimented by a series of chapters on public perceptions of statistical agency actions, including the results of a new survey on business perceptions. The book concludes with a chapter on the challenges of technology to data protection.

• Disclosure limitation methods in use - results of a survey, F. Felso, J. Theeuwes, G.G. Wagner
• Information Explosion, L. Sweeney
• Disclosure risk assessment, M. Elliot
• Disclosure control methods and information loss for microdata, J. Domingo-Ferrer, V. Torra
• A quantitative comparison of disclosure control methods for microdata, J. Domingo-Ferrer, V. Torra
• Disclosure limitation methods and information loss for tabular data, G.T. Duncan, et al
• Disclosure risk for tabular economic data, L.H Cox
• Nonperturbative disclosure control methods for tabular data, S. Giessing
• Disclosure limitation in longitudinal linked data, J.M. Abowd, S.D. Woodcock
• Licensing, M.M. Seastrom
• Issues in the establishment and management of secure research sites, T. Dunne
• The potential of confidentiality and attitudes toward data sharing by federal agencies, E. Singer
• The privacy context of survey response - an ethnographic account, E.R. Gerber. Business perceptions of confidentiality, N. Greenia, J. Bradford Jensen, J. Lane.