An American Privacy Emergency

5 hours ago

Cynthia Dwork and other experts warn about a U.S. Commerce Department directive (DAO 216-26) issued on June 4, 2026, which bans modern privacy-preserving techniques like differential privacy and noise infusion in Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis publications.
The directive restricts confidentiality protection to outdated methods from the 1970s, such as coarsening and suppression, which reduce data utility and fail to adequately protect individual privacy, as demonstrated in examples like brewery employment statistics.
The order is driven by political interests rather than scientific merit, bypassing legal administrative procedures and reflecting goals of organizations like the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 to potentially access sensitive data, such as citizenship status, despite legal requirements for confidentiality.
Implementing DAO-216-26 could lead to less useful or fewer statistics, weaker privacy protections, loss of public trust, and reduced census response rates, ultimately harming democratic decision-making based on federal data.
The authors urge action, including sharing information, contacting Congressional representatives to rescind the directive, and archiving documentation, emphasizing the need for scientific, rather than political, governance of federal statistics.

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