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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
2575-8527
99-110
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 (2009) Estimating risks of identification disclosure in partially synthetic data. Journal of Privacy and Confidentiality, 1 (1), 99-110.

Record type: Article

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: 2009
Keywords: confidentiality, public use data, record linkage, survey
Organisations: Statistical Sciences Research Institute

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 351747
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/351747
ISSN: 2575-8527
PURE UUID: 03aa381a-3244-4b31-867f-354524e1992b

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Date deposited: 30 Apr 2013 11:25
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 13:43

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Contributors

Author: Jerome P. Reiter
Author: Robin Mitra

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