Towards a comprehensive theory and practice of output SDC

Derrick, Ben; Green, Elizabeth; Ritchie, Felix; White, Paul

Abstract

In 2000, the statistical disclosure control of outputs (OSDC) was largely limited to models of table protection developed by and intended for national statistical institutes (NSIs), as a particular branch of general SDC theory. However, in this century OSDC as a field of enquiry has expanded significantly, reflecting the important of secure research environments run by NSIs and others. OSDC is still a relatively under-developed field compared to SDC for tables or microdata. There are a small number of practitioner guides, and some theoretical articles, but this is a diffuse literature.
In the UK, a consortium of universities and data providers is collaborating to provide an integrated analysis of output checking including
- Key theoretical and operational concepts (eg safe statistics, principles-based OSDC)
- A comprehensive listing of statistics, associated risks, and mitigation measures as well as various practical element to support output checking.
A key element of this is a theory-driven classification which enables us to have that comprehensive listing whilst still limiting the dimensionality of OSDC guidelines to a manageable number of rules. This paper explains this model and how it has been co-developed with RDCs and others, and considers whether this provides a sustainable model for future development of the OSDC field.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: UNECE/Eurostat Expert Group on Statisticial Data Confidentiality
• Start Date: Sep 26, 2023
• End Date: Sep 28, 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 8, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 10, 2023
• Keywords: privacy, confidentiality, statistical disclosure control, output checking
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11165708
• Publisher URL: https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/SDC2023_S5_2_UWE_Ritchie_D.pdf
• Additional Information: The presentation can be found at the conference page https://unece.org/statistics/events/SDC2023. Note that the presentation differs from the paper somewhat as it is two months later