Privacy Concerns Related To Census Data

Posted: August 26th, 2021

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Privacy Concerns Related To Census Data

The Census Bureau was established in July 1902. It serves as the primary agency of the US federal statistical system that is responsible for the acquisition and storage of data on the American population and economy. Title 13 of the United States Code tightly binds its operations. The code prescribes the need for the bureau to provide a strong protection mechanism for the information collected from American businesses and people (Lauren, Smith &Madden, 11). For example, the Bureau is prohibited from publishing any private information such as Social Security Number and telephone number that uniquely identifies an individual or a given business. Hence, the advances in technology andinternet use dynamicseveral concerns have been raised regarding the preservation of people’s privacy.

First, the use of geospatial technology’s remote sensing capabilities for the collection of census data is raising concerns among privacy advocates and lawmakers. There is increased dissemination of personal information, thus questioning the capability of this technology to ensure full protection of individual user data needs. As such, there is a dire need of creating more awareness about this technology to the masses(Lauren, Smith &Madden, 16). Secondly, privacy laws need to be ratified such that they appreciate both the changing perceptions of privacy in a public space and rapid technological trends. Notably, the existing privacy protection laws within the US are highly influenced by the Fair Information Practice Principle(Lauren, Smith &Madden, 23). The principle is broadly covered under the Privacy Act of 1974. Although the principle callsfor restricted sharing of personal data under their consent, privacy breaches are on the rise. Thus, there is a need to prevent recurrence privacy breaches for the purposes of upholding the integrity of the Census Bureau.

Works Cited

Lauren, J., Smith, A. &Madden, M. “Privacy and data management on mobile devices.” Pew Internet & American Life Project 4, 2012. Print.