Private Lives and Public Policies Confidentiality and Accessibility of Government Statistics (1993) / Chapter Skim
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8 Managing Confidentiality and Data Access Functions
8 Managing Confidentiality and Data Access Functions
Pages 203-218
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From page 203... ...
· To what extent should lists of businesses compiled by federal statistical agencies be made publicly available? · What conditions should be included in interagency agreements for sharing identifiable data for statistical purposes?
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From page 204... ...
MANAGEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA ACCESS QUESTIONS IN THE FEDERAL STATISTICAL SYSTEM WITHIN STATISTICAL AGENCIES The documentation provided to the pane! by federal statistical agencies included several examples of policy manuals, policy memorandums and standards related to statistical disclosure limitation procedures, informed consent procedures, and other aspects of confidentiality and data access.
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From page 205... ...
The Microdata Review Panel has no outside members; however, the Census Bureau is considering an arrangement for periodic review of the panel's policies and decisigns by outside advisors selected to represent data providers and data users. The NCES's Disclosure Review Board was created more recently, in 1989.
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From page 206... ...
All three of these workshops brought together agency staff, data users, and experts on information law, statistical disclosure limitation procedures, and other relevant topics. Several members of the pane!
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From page 207... ...
Working Paper 2 and the interagency seminars based on it were instrumental in raising the level of awareness of federal statisticians to the need for more careful application of statistical disclosure limitalion techniques when releasing aggregate data or microdata. Subsequent to the start of this panel's study, the head of the Statistical Policy Office has taken steps to review, with agency representatives, such issues as informed consent, statistical disclosure limitation procedures, interagency data-sharing, and licensing procedures for data access for external users.
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From page 208... ...
The Statistical Policy Office provides advice on statistical data collections to the clearance officers on request, and on its own initiative it frequently makes recommendations concerning proposals sponsored by statistical agencies. Forms-clearance reviews provide an opportunity to examine informed consent and notification statements, but currently the OMB reviewers do not work from any written guidelines, aside from the Privacy Act regulations, about what should be included in such statements.
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From page 209... ...
The society organizes an annual symposium in the fall and sponsors tutorial sessions each spring to update its members on changes in privacy and freedom of information legislation and case law. A few of the society's members are from federal statistical agencies, and some of the presentations at their annual symposiums have covered the application of information legislation to research and statistical activities.
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From page 210... ...
Also, data users tend to be well represented on the various advisory committees to federal statistical agencies, especially the ones that deal with substantive rather than methodological issues. ALTERNATIVE MODELS FOR MANAGING CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA ACCESS QUESTIONS: A LOOK AT OTHER COUNTRIES The issues that the panel has studied are not peculiar to the United States.
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From page 211... ...
In the United States, the responsibility for oversight of compliance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 was assigned to OMB. In contrast, in each of the four other countries that Flaherty studied, data protection legislation provided for the establishment of a commissioner or board, with a considerable degree of independence from the executive branch of the government, to monitor compliance with the fair information practices mandated by the legislation.
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From page 212... ...
In Sweden, which pioneered formal data protection activities at the national level, the Data Inspection Board initially focused considerable attention on the central statistical agency, Statistics Sweden. An early ruling of the board prevented Statistics Sweden from using imputation for persons not responding to the Swedish labor force survey.
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From page 213... ...
The federal commissioner's office had warned the federal Statistical Office that potential problems with data protection were associated with the census procedures, but the Statistical Office did little to respond. Nevertheless, in March 1983 the commissioner's office issued a press release stating that "people's fears about the census were unfounded, and that adequate safeguards were in place" (Flaherty 1989:8ll.
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From page 214... ...
It would have had authority to investigate compliance with the Privacy Act and report on violations, to review existing and proposed data protection legislation, investigate complaints about violations of data protection rights, and request agencies to take action on matters affecting data protection. Although no legislation had been passed by early 1993, there is sufficient interest in these issues that future enactment is possible.
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From page 215... ...
Currently, there is a dearth of opportunities isuch as the seminars that were conducted following the 1978 publication of Statistical Policy Working Paper 21 for federal statisticians to obtain training in fair information practices and related subjects. Recommendation 8.2 Statistical agencies should take steps to provide staff training in fair information practices, informed consent procedures, confidentiality laws and poli
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From page 216... ...
Recommendation 8.3 Statistical agencies should establish mechanisms for allowing and encouraging greater external inputs into their decisions on confidentiality protection and data access. One possibility would be to establish data review boards, with external members representing data subjects and data users, in all federal statistical agencies that release substantial amounts of data to the public.
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From page 217... ...
The policy directives and memorandums issued by Statistics Canada might provide useful models for the treatment of such topics as informed consent and record linkage. DATA PROTECTION BOARD Unlike other advanced industrial societies, the United States does not have an independent advisory board or commission charged with promoting effective implementation of the Privacy Act and other information legislation.
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From page 218... ...
Data protectors can and should be important allies of official statisticians and the general public in the achievement of an appropriate balance between the privacy interests of individuals and societal needs for research and statistical data about a complex society. In particular, data protectors can help statistical agencies resolve difficult issues in the areas of informed consent, confidentiaTity, data access, and record linkage.
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