An American privacy emergency: Guest post from Cynthia Dwork et al.
scottaaronson.blog
Scott’s foreword: Cynthia Dwork is Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard, and a pioneer in the fields of differential privacy and algorithmic fairness. On my recent travels to…
  • nymnympseudonym@piefed.socialEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    On June 4, 2026, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce issued a directive (DAO 216-26) relegating confidentiality protection in all Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and U.S. Census Bureau publications to techniques dating back to the early 1970s, turning its back on over half a century of progress and protections for data subjects. Advances in confidentiality provision had enabled the Census Bureau to share increasing quantities of data at more granular detail. The order will result in less useful (or fewer available) statistics, weaker protection, or both. We write to illustrate the danger posed by the order and to mobilize the scientific community to speak out against it.

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    Rather than political actors overruling the government’s own statisticians, we need deep investment in our nation’s statistical agencies, ensuring that agencies have the staff and support to improve their methods using the best available tools. Regardless of how the scientific community feels about any specific privacy-enhancing technique, we must collectively reject this anti-scientific approach to governing federal statistics. Too much is at stake.