“A Trump push to cut ‘statistical noise’ could mean less data from the Census Bureau" (NPR, June 12) “Federal law requires the [Census] bureau to keep people anonymous in the data it produces from surveys and government records. But this month, the administration put out an order that many data experts say makes it harder, if not impossible, for the agency to balance protecting the confidentiality of people's information with releasing useful data about local areas and small populations.” [Note that the order also applies to Bureau of Economic Analysis.]

Joint statement on Commerce’s disclosure avoidance for statistical products (June 17) “This order subverts processes developed over decades to foster transparency and public trust and creates a scenario in which there will either be less privacy for our personal information, or less usable data, or both.” (From the Association of Population Centers, Association of Public Data Users, Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan, and Population Association of America) 

Commerce Department order (June 4) “Disclosure Avoidance for Statistical Products” 

Population Reference Bureau (PRB), “Disclosure Avoidance in the 2020 Census: What Should Data Users Know About Respondent Privacy and Data Accuracy?” (April 2023)

PRB and Census, “Why the Census Bureau Chose Differential Privacy” (March 2023)