Statistics based on sensitive data such as population or agriculture censuses or registers, income tax returns, or medical records present the risk of disclosing private personal or corporate information. A government organization releasing official statistics in any form, from hard copy publications through to interactive online tools, must consider the moral and legal obligations to protect privacy. A privacy breach has many negative impacts, including a loss of trust from citizens and businesses.
In the era of government transparency the necessity to protect accidental or deliberate disclosure of confidential, private data is extremely acute. As efforts to share and disseminate more statistical information increase, robust techniques must be used to protect private information.
Organizations ask: “How can we disseminate sufficiently detailed and useful statistics but still protect the confidentiality of respondents?”
Statistical Disclosure Control
Effective use of Statistical Disclosure Control methodologies can deliver safe access to your data to those who need it. Use of disclosure control methodologies can make richer data sets available and even allow access to microdata.
Disclosure control methodologies range from random rounding or cell concealment through to sophisticated algorithms and rules such as perturbation. The appropriate techniques depend on the nature and use of the data. Disclosure control is not simple anonymization of data in a statistical environment. Experts know that removing identifiers such as names or identification numbers does not ensure privacy protection.
Our Experience
Space-Time Research provides disclosure control software, services, and methodologies for statistical organizations to protect data confidentiality and comply with privacy laws. Effective disclosure control measures ensure that an organization acting as a custodian of statistical data retain the trust of their data providers and respondents.
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Learn more about what we do, or Contact us if you would be interested in an disclosure control assessment of your privacy protection requirements or to discuss disclosure control solutions.
Download the White Paper on Disclosure Control