A NOISY DEBATE: SHOULD THE LAW REQUIRE THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU TO SACRIFICE ACCURACY FOR PRIVACY?
Tens of thousands of people use data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau for everything from drawing voting districts, to allocating government funds, to conducting research. But in 2018, the U.S. Census Bureau began using controversial new disclosure avoidance methods. These methods better protected the privacy of the people described by the Census Bureau’s data. Unfortunately, they also decreased the data’s accuracy, raising concerns such as whether voting districts drawn using 2020 census data will distort the 2024 election.
This Article argues that the Census Bureau’s hand was forced. Title 13 of the U.S. Code, as construed by the Supreme Court in Baldrige v. Shapiro, suggests that the Census Bureau must prevent even low privacy risks, requiring sweeping protections like the controversial new disclosure avoidance methods. This is not a good result: The new disclosure avoidance methods may hurt the public via data inaccuracies more than they help the public by protecting privacy. Congress should rewrite the Census Bureau’s privacy mandate to allow the Bureau greater flexibility to protect the accuracy of its data.
PDF: http://journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/04/Giles-Final.pdf
Author: Justin Giles
Volume 25, Issue 4