Re: Census data risks - retention and correlation of records

On Tue, Apr 05, 2016 at 02:32:16PM +0930, Glen Turner wrote:
> Neill Cox wrote:
> > IANAS (I am not a statistician)
> 
> Hi Neill
> 
> I was :-)  I did a degree in CompSci, Math and Economics. I worked for
> the Australian Bureau of Statistics from 1988 for about a decade.
> During that time I worked on a population census (and a heap of other
> things).
> 
> > My understanding is that the census has always collected names and
> > addresses and always kept those on the paper records.
> 
> Correct, but only because you used the word "collected". Names and
> addresses were not retained beyond the end of census input processing
> (data entry, editing, follow up of outliers).
> 
> Names and addresses were on tear-off sheets on the front of the form.
> Once we were happy there was no follow-up required then that page was
> torn off and shredded. From that point onwards there was no way to get
> from the form to an individual (well, induction from the answers given,
> but you get my point).
> 
> >  Given that they're moving to online data collection this change
> > seems inevitable.
> 
> Disagree. Just as a page can be thrown away once it is no longer
> required, a database column can be dropped once it is no longer
> required. You can arrange it so that backups containing the deleted
> data are destroyed.

I agree, until this census the data was anonymoized once they no longer
needed the identity attached. This time it is not opt out.

From my understanding if you are not at home or in a dwelling where census
data is ccollected on August 9th you do not need to fill it in.

This is the first time ever I have been tempted to ensure I am camping in
the wilderness [0] somewhere on Tuesday August 9th so as not to be in the census
data as there is no option to opt out of them keeping the identifying
information.

	See You
	    Steve

[0] not in internet connectiviy range so no online filling in of the census
can happen either.

-- 
Steven Hanley sjh-jwZKEFxkbM/[email protected] http://svana.org/sjh/diary
what good is a poker face, when you've got an open hand
i was supposed to be cool about this, yeah i remember cool was the plan
tried to keep it all under wraps, but the wraps kept going slack
   Worthy - Not A Pretty Girl - Ani