Private Lives and Public Policies Confidentiality and Accessibility of Government Statistics (1993) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Framework of Study
2 The Framework of Study
Pages 45-60
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From page 45... ...
Finally, we identify and describe the responsibilities that federal statistical agencies have to their various constituencies. EVOLUTION OF THE FEDERAL STATISTICAL SYSTEM The federal statistical system has evolved apace with the country, and at each step it has had to address confidentiality and data access issues.
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From page 46... ...
Unlike its northern neighbor, with its Statistics Canada, the United States has a clecentraTizec3 statistical system, in which there are numerous federal statistical agencies, each with separate enabling legislation and distinct data provider and data user constituencies. Because of this, substantial variations exist in the way agencies and programs seek to protect confidentiality and provide data access.
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From page 47... ...
the income tax.i Statistics based on the data were first published pursuant to the Revenue Act of 1916. By 1924 legislation had loosened access to tax data to include public listing of taxpayers and their incomes and access to tax returns by two congressional revenue committees.
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From page 48... ...
Concern about the confidentiality of personal records hampered ordinary statistical uses of federal data, for example, when the Department of Agriculture was blocked in 1973 from using tax return information to construct a directory of names for use in its surveys of farmers. During the 1970s many ambitious proposals, like the President's Reorganization Project for the Federal Statistical System, were developed to coordinate the federal statistical effort, and they generally gave careful attention to confidentiality.
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From page 49... ...
was concerned with all uses of personal records, not just statistical records, and the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards {1978) examined all aspects of federal statistical programs, going far beyond confidentiaTity and data access issues.
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From page 50... ...
After two years of work, the committee, chaired by Joseph L Gastwirth, produced a final report, which made the following key recommendations regarding confidentiality: · Confidentiality statutes providing full and overriding protection against compulsory disclosure of identifiable records from statistical data systems derived either from surveys or from administrative records should lie enacted to cover each federal statistical agency and designated units of other agencies.
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From page 51... ...
Some basic recommendations made in the report regarding confidentiality and data access were as fol lows: . All agencies involved in the collection of statistical or research data should have mandated legislative protection for the confidentiality of information collected or otherwise obtained to lie used solely for statistical or research purposes.
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From page 52... ...
for statistical and nonstatistical purposes, · increases in the variety, number, and influence of organizations that have a stake in confidentiality and data access issues, · increasing difficulties in persuading data providers to participate in censuses and surveys, · initiation of cognitive research aimed at the improvement of informed consent and notification procedures for surveys, and · new developments in research on statistical disclosure limitation. Below, we briefly describe each of these developments and indicate areas of concern for the federal statistical system.
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From page 53... ...
At the same time, the demands of outside researchers for access to federal data raise additional confidentiality concerns for federal statistical agencies. RECORD LINKAGE In order to enhance their ability to answer complex policyrelevant questions, researchers seek to match records in one statistical data base with records from the same data provider in another data base.
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From page 54... ...
Given the evident range and depth of concern, federal statistical agencies should be sensitive to the views of different stakeholders, accommodate their conflicting needs to the extent possible, and help to inform the public debate by making the various parties aware of each other's views. PERSUADING DATA PROVIDERS Many data collectors face mounting difficulties in persuading data providers to participate in censuses and surveys.
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From page 55... ...
Within a larger mandate of improving the design of questionnaires, the units have addressed some issues related to confidentiality and data access. Specifically, research studies have been conducted to gain a better understanding of how survey respondents react to personal questions under differing confidentiality pledges and informed consent and notification procedures.
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From page 56... ...
RESPONSIBILITIES OF FEDERAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES In Chapter 1 we explored three guiding principles for federal statistical agencies: democratic accountability, individual autonomy, and constitutional empowerment. Each of these principles strongly relates to the responsibilities agencies have to the public, data subjects and providers, data users, other statistical agencies, and the custodians of administrative records regarding confidentiality and data access.
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From page 57... ...
Yet, some federal statistical agencies lack the legislative protection they need to ensure the confidentiality they promise. Additionally, congruous with the principle of constitutional empowerment, statistical agencies should respect the willingness of data providers to contribute to society by fairly representing the information they provide and by making it available for appropriate uses National Research Council, 1992b:51.
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From page 58... ...
In developing policies for data sharing there is an insistent tension with the principle of individual autonomy, and agencies must be mindful of the expectations that data providers have of the uses to which their data might be put. Additionally, as users of data collected by others, statistical agencies are obligated to use those data responsibly.
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From page 59... ...
, President's Reorganization Project for the Federal Statistical System {1981) , and Privacy Protection Study Commission ;1977a, b, c)
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