IPUMS-Europe: Confidentiality measures for licensing and disseminating restricted-access census microdata extracts to academic users

Confidentiality protections for census microdata depend not only on the sensitivity and heterogeneity of thedata, but also on the potential users. It is widely recognized that statistical agencies exert substantial effort to protect microdata from misuse by academics, their most trust-worthy users. The IPUMS-International projects, by disseminating only integrated, anonymized microdata and restricting access to licensed academic users, shifts the risk-utility curve sharplyrightwardsubstantial increasing utility with only marginal increments in risk. The IPUMS-International approach provides access to microdata of high utility at the same time that confidentiality risks are minimized. Many statistical institute partners anonymize the microdata and implement technical measures of confidentiality protection before the data are entrustedto the project. This paper discusses legal, administrative and technical practices of the IPUMS-International project for disseminating harmonized census microdata extracts with specific reference to the IPUMS-Europe regional initiative.