Reconciling Data Access and Privacy: Building a Sustainable Model for the Future

Abstract

An important factor in the government's ability to collect data from individuals and businesses is the promise that their information will be kept private. Given the explosion of other data increasingly available in electronic form, however, there is a growing risk that the subjects of federal data collections could be re-identified and their privacy thereby compromised. This implies that current modes for disseminating information based on survey and census data will need to be rethought. While the broad outlines for a new system seem relatively clear, important practical questions about its implementation will need to be addressed.