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A brief introduction to differential privacy: A data protection plan for the 2020 census

by Josh Neufeld, The Journalist's Resource
March 23, 2020

<h1>A brief introduction to differential privacy: A data protection plan for the 2020 census</h1> <p class="byline">by Josh Neufeld, The Journalist's Resource <br />March 23, 2020</p> <p><img class="alignnone wp-image-63068 size-full" src="https://live-journalists-resource.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/census-panel-1-1200x703-web.jpg" alt="differential privacy explainer 2020 census" width="1200" height="1703" /></p> <p><img class="alignnone wp-image-63071 size-full" src="https://live-journalists-resource.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/census-panel-2-1200-web.jpg" alt="differential privacy explainer 2020 census comic" width="1200" height="1706" /></p> <p><img class="alignnone wp-image-63074 size-full" src="https://live-journalists-resource.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/census-panel-3-1200x1675-web.jpg" alt="differential privacy explainer 2020 census" width="1200" height="1655" /></p> <hr /> <h3>Additional information about differential privacy:</h3> <ul> <li>The Census Bureau has <a href="https://www.census.gov/about/policies/privacy/statistical_safeguards/disclosure-avoidance-2020-census.html">compiled information about differential privacy here</a>, as well as a history of census data protections dating back to 1790.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>The National Conference of State Legislators has a <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/redistricting/differential-privacy-for-census-data-explained.aspx">differential privacy explainer</a> that discusses the issue of how differential privacy might disproportionally affect data in rural areas.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://datasociety.net/library/balancing-data-utility-and-confidentiality-in-the-2020-us-census/">"Balancing Data Utility and Confidentiality in the 2020 U.S. Census"</a> is a living document in which technology scholar Danah Boyd digs into the reasons for and potential risks of differential privacy. Boyd is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research and the founder of the Data and Society Research Institute.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>Here's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI0wk1CXlsQ">a link to an 18-minute video</a> in which computer scientist <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/about-us/directory?search=%22Cynthia%20Dwork%22">Cynthia Dwork</a> provides a definition of differential privacy. Dwork is a professor of computer science at the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and author of several pioneering papers on differential privacy, including <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3294052.3322188">"Differential Privacy and the US Census."</a></li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>This piece is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="license noopener noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>. For educators, editors and anyone else who would like to republish it in print, we are providing access to a high-resolution PDF of this comic here: <a href="https://live-journalists-resource.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/diff-priv-colors2a.pdf"><strong>Download a high-resolution PDF .</strong></a></li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/comic-differential-privacy-2020-census/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

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Additional information about differential privacy:

• The Census Bureau has compiled information about differential privacy here, as well as a history of census data protections dating back to 1790.

• The National Conference of State Legislators has a differential privacy explainer that discusses the issue of how differential privacy might disproportionally affect data in rural areas.

• “Balancing Data Utility and Confidentiality in the 2020 U.S. Census” is a living document in which technology scholar Danah Boyd digs into the reasons for and potential risks of differential privacy. Boyd is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research and the founder of the Data and Society Research Institute.

• Here’s a link to an 18-minute video in which computer scientist Cynthia Dwork provides a definition of differential privacy. Dwork is a professor of computer science at the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and author of several pioneering papers on differential privacy, including “Differential Privacy and the US Census.”

• This piece is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For educators, editors and anyone else who would like to republish it in print, we are providing access to a high-resolution PDF of this comic here: Download a high-resolution PDF .