Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Spontaneous recognition: An unneccessary control on data access?

Ritchie, Felix

Spontaneous recognition: An unneccessary control on data access? Thumbnail


Authors



Contributors

Emanuele Baldacci
Editor

Gyorgy Benoist
Editor

Carsten Boldsen
Editor

Monika Galambosne Tiszbergen
Editor

Janos Gerendas
Editor

Martin Karlberg
Editor

Asta Manninen
Editor

Per Nymand-Andersen
Editor

Jean-Michel Poggi
Editor

Gyorgy Sandor
Editor

Zoltan Vereczkei
Editor

Abstract

Social scientists increasingly expect to have access to detailed source microdata for research purposes. As the level of detail increases, data owners worry about ‘spontaneous recognition’, the likelihood that a microdata user believes that he or she has accidentally identified one of the data subjects in the dataset, and may share that information. This concern, particularly in respect of microdata on businesses, leads to excessive restrictions on data use.
We argue that spontaneous recognition presents no meaningful risk to confidentiality. The standard ‘intruder’ model covers re-identification risk to an acceptable standard under most current legislation. If a spontaneous re-identification did occur, the user is very unlikely to be in breach of any law or condition of access. Any breach would only occur as a result of further actions by the user to confirm or assert identity, and these should be seen as a managerial problem.
Nevertheless, a consideration of spontaneous recognition does highlight some of the implicit assumptions make in data access decisions. It also shows the importance of the data owner’s institutional culture: for a default-open data owner, spontaneous recognition is a useful check on whether all relevant risks have been addressed, but for a default-closed data owner spontaneous recognition provides a way to place insurmountable barriers in front of those wanting to increase data access.

This is a shorter version of the paper published in the ECB Statistical Paper No. 24

Citation

Ritchie, F. (2017). Spontaneous recognition: An unneccessary control on data access?. In E. Baldacci, G. Benoist, C. Boldsen, M. Galambosne Tiszbergen, J. Gerendas, M. Karlberg, …Z. Vereczkei (Eds.), Selected papers from the 2016 Conference of European Statistics Stakeholders (148-158). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2785/091435

Publication Date Nov 10, 2017
Deposit Date Dec 7, 2017
Publicly Available Date Dec 7, 2017
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Pages 148-158
Book Title Selected papers from the 2016 Conference of European Statistics Stakeholders
ISBN 9789279736285
DOI https://doi.org/10.2785/091435
Keywords spontaneous recognition, confidentiality, statistical disclosure control, data access, data management
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/878606
Publisher URL http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-statistical-working-papers/-/KS-TC-17-006?inheritRedirect=true&redirect=%2Feurostat%2Fpublications%2Fstatistical-working-papers
Additional Information Additional Information : This is an extract from 'Selected papers from the 2016 Conference of European Statistics Stakeholders', which can be accessed at the publisher's site: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-statistical-working-papers/-/KS-TC-17-006?inheritRedirect=true&redirect=%2Feurostat%2Fpublications%2Fstatistical-working-papers A longer version of this paper is available as European Central Bank Statistical Paper no. 24, available from this repository as http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/32841/.

Files








You might also like



Downloadable Citations