The Complexities of Differential Privacy for Survey Data

The concept of differential privacy gained substantial attention in recent years, most notably since the U.S. Census Bureau announced the adoption of the concept for the 2020 Decennial Census. However, despite its attractive theoretical properties, implementing the approach in practice is challenging, especially when it comes to survey data.

In this talk I will present some results from a project funded by the U.S. Census Bureau that explores the possibilities and limitations of differential privacy for survey data. I will highlight some key findings from the project and also discuss some of the challenges that would still need to be addressed if the framework should become the new data protection standard at statistical agencies.