Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality

ASA Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality

Key Terms/Definitions in Privacy and Confidentiality

Training Modules on Privacy and Confidentiality

Methods for Reducing Disclosure Risks

Protecting Biological and Health Data: Special Issues and Applications

Protecting Business and Tax Data: Special Issues and Applications

Protecting Demographic/Other Data: Special Issues and Applications

Guidelines for Government Statistical Agencies

Laws and Regulations about Privacy and Confidentiality

Human Subjects Protection, Ethical Research, and IRBs


 

Welcome to the American Statistical Association's
Privacy and Confidentiality Website

Sponsored by the ASA Committee on Privacy and Confidentiality

People can gather detailed information on almost any topic with just a few clicks of a button. While this has enormous benefits for society, it also raises concerns about privacy and confidentiality. The proliferation of readily available electronic data, and advances in statistical and computing technologies, provide ill-intentioned individuals with more and higher quality resources for linking records in different databases. As a result, the risks of unintended disclosures of sensitive information are rising. If such disclosures occur, individuals' rights may be violated and the quality of data available for research and decision-making may suffer.

The Privacy and Confidentiality Committee of the American Statistical Association developed this website to help policymakers, statisticians, and the general public to better understand issues in privacy and confidentiality. The site includes:

  • a primer on key concepts and terms in privacy and confidentiality, and resources for training on privacy and confidentiality protection
  • information on techniques for preventing unintended disclosures when sharing confidential data
  • explanations of specific issues and examples of protecting privacy and confidentiality for biological and health data, for business and economic data, and for demographic data
  • guidelines on best practices for government agencies
  • links to key laws and regulations on privacy and confidentiality
  • resources related to the protection of human subjects and ethical research.
Links to these topics are at the left of each page on the site. The site also provides a link to opportunities for federal funding for research in privacy and confidentiality, which is actively supported by major funding bodies.

The site also announces recent news and upcoming events of interest to those in the privacy and confidentiality communities (latest update: Sept. 1, 2010). If you would like to announce an event on the site, please send a request to the chair of the Committee via email.

The American Statistical Association--a leading professional organization for statisticians in government, industry and academia--supports improving practice and research in privacy and confidentiality. The ASA's views are summarized in an organizational statement. The ASA and the Committee request that you read their disclaimer statement before perusing this site for the first time. The Committee acknowledges the contributions to the development of this website of the National Opinion Research Center, ASA staff, Joyce Weil, an advisory board of experts in privacy and confidentiality, and previous Committee members. Suggestions on the site can be sent via e-mail to the current chair of the Committee, who can be identified by following the first link on the left-hand side of each page.

Copyright ©2003, 2009 American Statistical Association