Statistical Confidentiality and UK Population Censuses: A Summary of Recent Findings and Ethical Issues William Seltzer Fordham University, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology (Dealy 407), 441 East Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458 USA. E-mail:
[email protected] Sessions STCPMs 1. Introduction The confidentiality of personal information provided to government statistical authorities during population censuses and similar statistical operations is a well-established principle, at least among statisticians. Accordingly, as discussed more fully in section 3 below, most sets of ethical norms in the field of statistics explicitly refer to the responsibility of maintaining statistical confidentiality on the grounds that such disclosures may lead to respondent harm. This ethical norm has been reflected, at least to some degree, in the confidentiality provisions of census and statistical laws adopted in most countries. These laws are of two broad types: first, those that prohibit disclosures for all types of non-statistical uses, and second, those that permit disclosures for certain important non-statistical state purposes. While those laws of the first type may permit some disclosures considered as harmless (for example, sharing data among statistical agencies to foster enhanced analytical possibilities) such strong statistical confidentiality laws adhere closely to the ethical principle that the personal information provided will not be used to harm or target individuals. Unfortunately, many other countries, whether by tradition or in response to perceived national threats, have adopted weaker census or other statistical confidentiality laws that allow for a distinction between authorized and unauthorized disclosures without reference to the issue of individual harm, and only bar the latter.