Data Accessibility, Confidentiality and Copyright United Nations Statistics Division Demographic Statistics Section

On data accessibility and confidentiality…….. Objective of data dissemination is to maximize the accessibility of census data while safeguarding confidentiality of the census information  Data were collected at the expenses of tax payers, therefore they are the sovereign owners Duty of NSO is to administrate the data in name of tax payers and to impede misdoings, but to guarantee that any legitimate need/use is satisfied 2

Accessibility is a census strategic objective The strategic objectives of the census include: “implementing policies designed to safeguard the access of all users to census results” 3

Quality assurance Even if data are accurate, they do not have sufficient quality if they are produced too late to be useful, or cannot be easily accessed, or conflict with other credible data, or are too costly to produce 4

What is accessibility Accessibility is the ease with which statistical data can be obtained by users, and reflects the availability of information from the holdings of the agency in general, and census information in particular 5

Accessibility should take into account The suitability of the form in which the information is available The media of dissemination The availability of metadata That the user has reasonable opportunity to know the information is available and how to access it The affordability of that information to users in relation to its value to them 6

About the education and training of users 7

Promotion of, and training on, uses of census data Users may be willing to use the information but require additional training to more fully understand the data Needs for training need to be identified early in the census planning process 8

Prepare in advance Identify areas and types of users on which the statistical office wishes to focus Establish partnerships with other bodies to provide training Perhaps, consider also approaches other than classroom training to provide learning-at-a-distance opportunities 9

Topics to be addressed Potential uses of census data How to access census data Interpretation of census data at the broadest level, including the interpretation of its completeness and level of accuracy 10

Why is confidentiality important? Individual data collected by statistical agencies for statistical compilation, whether they refer to natural or legal persons, are to be strictly confidential and used exclusively for statistical purposes Principle 6 of the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics 11

Long term benefits Better cooperation from the public More data from the public and better quality Improved accessibility to data and to higher quality data 12

How to Guard Confidentiality in a C Census Operation? (i) Confidentiality in all aspects of data collection operations (ii) Legal framework (iii) Outsourcing (iv) Publicity (v) Training of staff and inclusion in enumeration manuals (vi) Enumeration (vii) Data dissemination (viii) Database 13

Micro Data Access Public Use Files Access under contract Secure sites Internal (in the office) Remote access (web, after secure identification) On request processing by NSO staff 14

Measures to Reduce Disclosure Risks Sampling Different levels of trust Research units in governmental offices Recognized research institutions Analysis of indirect identification risks and determination of risk levels of a dataset 15

On Copyright Copyright laws may protect data ownership Loyalty fees and data usage fees may be charged to ensure a minimum return However If charged prices are too high, charges could be a barrier to data usage 16

Thank you