Private Lives and Public Policies Confidentiality and Accessibility of Government Statistics (1993) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
7 Statistical Data on Organizations
7 Statistical Data on Organizations
Pages 181-202
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 181... ...
The generally favorable reception to the 1991 Boskin initiative to improve the quality of economic statistics {see Council of Economic Advisers, 1991) is evidence of the importance that policymakers and other users attribute to these kinds of economic data.
|
From page 182... ...
93-579~. If a statistical agency that has identifiable information about organizations is not governed by agency-specific confidentiality legislation, it must rely primarily on exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act [P.L.
|
From page 183... ...
Most of the major federal statistical agencies have some form of legislation that allows them to protect the confidentiality of data on organizations that they collect and process. One exception is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which, as explained in Chapter 5, has relied on a combination of regulations and Tower court decisions to protect data that it obtains from businesses, either directly or through state employment security agencies.
|
From page 184... ...
They do have the effect, however, that many surveys of organizations do not require a true informed consent process, as detailed in Chapter 3. · There are likely to be greater incentives for other federal agencies and individuals to desire access, for nonstatistical purposes, to individually identifiable statistical information about commercial organizations.
|
From page 185... ...
y Id:entifiabJe Energy Information in the Possession of the Energy Information Administration, which had been published in the Federal Register {45~177~:59812-59816~. The Antitrust Division's request did not meet any of the conditions, set forth in Section E of that policy, under which EIA would disclose individually identifiable information to other federal agencies.
|
From page 186... ...
DISCUSSION Is EIA a Statistical Agency The Committee on National Statistics {National Research Council 1992b:2J has proposed the following definition of a federal statistical agency: "a unit of the federal government whose principal function is the compilation and analysis of data and the dissemination of information for statistical purposes." The committee also states that a federal statistical agency, to be effective, must protect the confidentiality of individual responses and must not disclose identifiable information for administrative, regulatory, or enforcement purposes. The pri2lcipa]
|
From page 187... ...
Individually identifiable information can be disclosed and is sometimes required to be disclosed for nonstatistical purposes. The agency's 1980 policy on disclosure allows disclosures for nonstatistical purposes to other units of the Department of Energy, the Congress, the General Accounting Office, and when the information does not come under the exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act, to the public.
|
From page 188... ...
The Energy Information Administration is clearly one of the have-nots and is in an especially awkward position because its statutorily defined mission includes some collection of data for nonstatistical purposes. The Bureau of Labor Statistics {BLS)
|
From page 189... ...
Recommendation 7.2 Legislation that authorizes and requires protection of the confidentiality of data for persons and organizations should be sought for all federal statistical agencies that do not now have it and for any new federal statistical agencies that may be created See also Recommendation 5.11. An opposing argument is that, for the sake of efficiency, federal agencies needing data for nonstatistical purposes, especially if related to compliance of businesses with laws and regulations, should be permitted to acquire the data from any agency that has them.
|
From page 190... ...
Statements of the collecting agency's intentions should be clearly distinguished from statements describing what is authorized and required by statute. INABILITY TO SHARE BUSINESS LISTS: AN EMBARRASSMENT TO THE FEDERAL STATISTICAL SYSTEM BACKGROUND The question of access to business lists for statistical purposes by federal agencies has a history covering more than half a century.
|
From page 191... ...
Major producers of economic statistics include federal statistical agencies and operating agencies with statistical units. In the first category, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Agricultural Statistics Service jNASS)
|
From page 192... ...
There are a few other examples of business list sharing, but what is more to the point is the sharing that is not occurring. The National Agricultural Statistics Service shares its farm list information with the Census Bureau in preparation for each quinquennial census of agriculture, but Title 13 prohibits any reverse flow of information to NASS for use in its extensive program of current agricultural surveys.
|
From page 193... ...
Previous efforts to make the SSEL available to other agencies for statistical use have excluded EIA and SBA's Office of Advocacy because, as explained above for EIA, neither agency had the kind of statutory provisions that would guarantee that it could protect the shared list information from all access for nonstatistical purposes. The proposal for improving the quality of economic statistics issued by Chairman Michael Boskin of the Council of Economic Advisers ~1991:6)
|
From page 194... ...
PRACTICES IN OTHER COUNTRIES The pane! reviewed the policies and practices of several other developed countries with respect to statistical and other uses of business lists established and maintained by government statistical agencies.
|
From page 195... ...
The most striking finding of this review was that none of the nine countries has business list policies as restrictive as those currently followed in the United States. All of the countries reviewed allow, at a minimum, access to the government's business lists by a]
|
From page 196... ...
commends OMB's Statistical Policy Office for the steps it has been taking to promote limited sharing of business list information between BLS and the Census Bureau and to develop legislation that will permit further sharing of business lists, as recommended in the Boskin initiative. Recommendation 7.4 There should be increased sharing of business lists for statistical purposes by federal and state agencies.
|
From page 197... ...
At least three federal statistical agencies sometimes seek waivers that will allow them to include such data cells, without the usual suppression or masking, in their publications. The National Agricultural Statistics Service has a formal standard for its state offices to use for obtaining permission from respondents in instances in which there are only one or two respondents in a cell or one respondent accounts for more than 60 percent of the value to be published.
|
From page 198... ...
This data sharing activity was done with the concurrence of the cot ton gins so they could eliminate duplicate reporting. However, OMB's legal counsel ruled in 1990 that Census Bureau employees may not release individually identifiable information collected under Title 13, even when waivers have been obtained.
|
From page 199... ...
We believe that the use of waiver procedures for the kinds of statistical purposes illustrated in this section should be permitted, provided the consequences of granting waivers are clearly explained to respondents and they are not put under any kind of pressure to grant the permission requestec3. Recommendation 7.6 The Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Office should develop uniform guidelines for federal statistical agencies covering the purposes for which waivers of confidentiality protections by organizations are considered acceptable and the methods of obtaining waivers from respondents.
|
From page 200... ...
In Chapter 6, we described several forms of restricted access to federal statistical data that are provided for external users: American Statistical Association/National Science Foundation {ASA/NSIJ fellowships that allow researchers to work with data at federal agencies; remote on-line access with query restrictions, as in the Luxembourg Income Study; release of encrypted microciata in CDROM format; and various types of licensing agreements that provice access for users at their work sites, but place restrictions on the uses that can be made of the data and often include penalties for failure to abide by the terms of the agreement. To some extent, these kinds of arrangements have been providing greater access to data for organizations over the past few years.
|
From page 201... ...
The National Agricultural Statistics Service has also developed administrative procedures that allow some researchers to have restricted access to statistical data at its state offices. The National Center for Education Statistics has become an active proponent of dissemination of data by means of encrypted CD-ROM diskettes and licensing agreements, and some of the data released in those ways are for schools.
|
From page 202... ...
202 PRIVATE LIVES AND PUBLIC POLICIES access to federal statistical data about organizations, especially business establishments and other economic units. Recommendation 7.7 Federal statistical agencies that collect data on organizations should make a special effort to improve access for statistical research and analysis by external users and, if necessary, should seek legislation that will permit them to develop licensing arrangements that allow such users to have access at their work sites, subject to penalties for violating the conditions under which they are allowed access to the data.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.