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Estimating risks of identification disclosure in partially synthetic data

Estimating risks of identification disclosure in partially synthetic data
Estimating risks of identification disclosure in partially synthetic data
To limit disclosures, statistical agencies and other data disseminators can release partially synthetic, public use microdata sets. These comprise the units originally surveyed, but some collected values, for example sensitive values at high risk of disclosure or values of key identifiers, are replaced with multiple draws from statistical models. Because the original records are on the file, there remain risks of identifications. In this paper, we describe how to evaluate identification disclosure risks in partially synthetic data, accounting for released information from the multiple datasets, the model used to generate synthetic values, and the approach used to select values to synthesize. We illustrate the computations using the Survey of Youths in Custody.
confidentiality, public use data, record linkage, survey
M08/07
Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, University of Southampton
Reiter, Jerome P.
b70b3bb7-ac77-4dd1-860a-4daa92e02fc2
Mitra, Robin
2b944cd7-5be8-4dd1-ab44-f8ada9a33405
Reiter, Jerome P.
b70b3bb7-ac77-4dd1-860a-4daa92e02fc2
Mitra, Robin
2b944cd7-5be8-4dd1-ab44-f8ada9a33405

Reiter, Jerome P. and Mitra, Robin (2008) Estimating risks of identification disclosure in partially synthetic data (S3RI Methodology Working Papers, M08/07) Southampton, UK. Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, University of Southampton 11pp.

Record type: Monograph (Working Paper)

Abstract

To limit disclosures, statistical agencies and other data disseminators can release partially synthetic, public use microdata sets. These comprise the units originally surveyed, but some collected values, for example sensitive values at high risk of disclosure or values of key identifiers, are replaced with multiple draws from statistical models. Because the original records are on the file, there remain risks of identifications. In this paper, we describe how to evaluate identification disclosure risks in partially synthetic data, accounting for released information from the multiple datasets, the model used to generate synthetic values, and the approach used to select values to synthesize. We illustrate the computations using the Survey of Youths in Custody.

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Published date: 3 October 2008
Keywords: confidentiality, public use data, record linkage, survey

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 63393
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/63393
PURE UUID: c1cd493e-901d-45d8-a6e7-a2c582665d5e

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Date deposited: 03 Oct 2008
Last modified: 20 Feb 2024 03:22

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Contributors

Author: Jerome P. Reiter
Author: Robin Mitra

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