The Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking reconvened at the National Academy of Sciences building for their second public meeting on Friday, September 9th (find more information on the first meeting here). This session, titled “Key considerations in Privacy Relevant to the Commission’s Charge” focused entirely on different approaches to privacy and confidentiality. According to Katharine Abraham, chair of the commission and ASA fellow, this particular session was scheduled early on in the process so that privacy will always be on the commissioners’ minds so that later efforts and recommendations do not run aground.
The first speakers delivered an overview of federal approaches to privacy and confidentiality. Marc Groman, Senior Advisor for Privacy in the Office of Management and Budget, urged the commissioners not to think of privacy concerns as a roadblock but rather as a fundamental ingredient for fostering innovation and the long term success of priority issues. He emphasized that the commission should not aim to eliminate all risk, since the only way to do so would be to get rid of all data. Instead, he encouraged that statisticians engage in privacy efforts as well as transparency about what information is collected and why. Katherine Wallman, Chief Statistician of the United States, then reviewed the federal government’s current approach to privacy and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act and reiterated that maintaining privacy is a lifestyle.
Next, several speakers offered state legal perspectives. Aimee Guidera, President and CEO of the Data Quality Campaign, spoke of data as not a hammer but a flashlight and described efforts of increasing the public’s trust. Justin Erlich, Special Assistant Attorney General of California, discussed Open Justice, a transparency initiative by the state of California to publish criminal justice data, and the delicate balance between the pros and cons of accessible data. He also urged collaboration with statisticians on modeling the risk of releasing such data. Next, Michael Basil, General Counsel of the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology, described new efforts to create a streamlined data sharing process called Enterprise Memorandum of Understanding and early signs of success for the new system.
Finally, two speakers spoke of other privacy perspectives. Marc Rotenberg, President of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, reviewed privacy case studies, including the Federal Wiretap Reports and NOAA data, and discussed how the country can produce a safe, sustainable environment while continuing to evaluate the government. Cynthia Dwork, Microsoft Research Scientist, spoke of the Fundamental Law of Privacy and stated that each release of a statistical analysis results in a loss of privacy. She reminded everyone that it is the outliers in the data set that most often need protection, and gave specific recommendations on privacy strategies to the commission focusing on differential privacy.
The Commission is scheduled to meet again in October and November . Keep checking the Science Policy Blog for updates, and let us know what you think by sharing comments below or emailing (nussbaum@amstat.org).