The passage of the Freedom of Information Act in 1966 and the Privacy Act in 1974 had
important implications for the statistical programs of the Federal government. New attention was
directed to issues such as protection of the confidentiality of information provided for statistical
purposes, informed consent procedures for survey respondents, statistical uses of data from
administrative files, and transfers of data between agencies for statistical purposes. Early in
1975, the Privacy Protection Study Commission, which had been established under the Privacy
Act of 1974, was about to conduct a detailed review of compliance with the Act and possible
needs for additional legislation. On March 26, 1975, American Statistical Association (ASA)
President Lester Frankel appointed an
Ad Hoc Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality, with Joseph L. Gastwirth as chair. The
committee was charged with reviewing the statistical aspects of recent and proposed legislation,
and stimulating discussion of their implications among members of the statistical profession.
The report of the Ad Hoc Committee was published in the May 1977 issue of The
American Statistician (vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 59-78). Findings and recommendations were
given under the following headings:
A. Authority for and limitations on collection of data for statistical purposes;
B. Informing respondents;
C. Informing the public;
D. Transfers for statistical and research purposes;
E. Protection of confidentiality; and
F. Freedom of Information Act exemptions.
Because committee members were not in full agreement on all of the issues
discussed, a final item G presented additional comments by individual committee members.
By the time the Ad Hoc Committee issued its report, it had become evident that privacy and
confidentiality would continue to be important issues for official statisticians, survey researchers,
and other members of the profession. In 1977, ASA President Leslie Kish changed the status of
the Committee from ad hoc to continuing.
ASA
Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality Home Page
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