WSS NEWS

News about activities of the Washington Statistical Society
A Chapter of the American Statistical Association

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June 1999

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Contents:

• Open Board Meeting
• Statistical Seminar Series on Confidentiality
• 1999 FCSM Research Conference -- November 15-17, 1999
• 1999 Annual Dinner
• SIGSTAT Schedule - June, 1999
• Employment Opportunities
• Courses
• Seminars
• Area Meetings and Courses (Adobe Acrobat PDF file)
• Note From The WSS NEWS Editor
• WSS People

Open Board Meeting

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Statistical Seminar Series on Confidentiality

On Tuesday, July 20th, 12:30-1:45, Michael Weber, Statistics of Income, IRS, will give a talk entitled "New Methods for SOI Disclosure Avoidance in the Release of Public-Use Files."

ABSTRACT:
The Statistics of Income Division (SOI) began releasing individual income tax return public-use microdata files for Tax Year 1960. The 1994 file contained 215 fields extracted from 96,384 individual tax returns. The weights in the file range from a high of 5,000 to a low of 3. Clearly, this is one of the most powerful public-use microdata files in existence, particularly for high-income individuals.

The IRS, like other agencies, has extremely strict rules on disclosure. In order to comply with these rules when releasing the pubic-use files, SOI: deletes selected outlier records; top codes selected demographic data; eliminates selected fields for high-income returns; and blurs (averages) selected fields. The last major review of SOI's disclosure avoidance effort was conducted in the mid 1980's.

With the advent of sophisticated software linkage programs and the proliferation of computers powerful enough to use them, and the explosion of data available on the Internet, SOI is in the process of reexamining its disclosure avoidance methodology. This re-examination consists of two steps. The first is to determine which fields present on the public-use file are legally available in the private sector. To accomplish this, SOI hired, for the lack of a better term, a forensic financial analyst to investigate this issue. This report should be completed by the time of this presentation. The second step involves using a linkage program (Automatch) to attempt to link the records found in the IRS Individual Master File (IMF), which is the source file for public-use file, with those found in the public-use file. The results of the report of the forensic financial analyst will be used to determine which variables to use when matching the IMF and the public-use files. The assumption being that a variable that cannot be obtained in the private sector should not be used to determine whether a disclosure problem exists. The ability (or inability) to identify individuals after this match should be a good indicator of the level of protection provided in our disclosure avoidance procedures.

Please note that BLS has special security procedures for non-BLS employees. Visitors should enter through the First Street, NE, entrance. Non-BLS employees who want to attend this lecture should contact Karen Jackson (jackson_karen@bls.gov; 202-606-7524) in order to be placed on the visitor's list. Please call by COB of Thursday, July 15, 1999 (please provide name, phone number where you can be reached, and name of your employer).

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1999 FCSM Research Conference
November 15-17, 1999

The conference offers a forum for experts from around the world to discuss and exchange current research and methods on areas relevant to Federal government statistical programs. Sessions feature papers and demonstrations by government, private sector, and academic researchers from eight countries. All paper sessions will include an open discussion and some sessions will include a formal discussion. Papers will be made available at the conference and posted to the FCSM web site following the conference.

Conference registration and $150 fee is due by September 15, 1999. Additional information may be obtained from: Ruth Detlefsen, Bureau of the Census Bureau, Room 2641-3, Washington, D.C. 20233; Phone: 301-457-2665, Fax: 301-457-1343, and E-mail: fcsm@ccmail.census.gov. Periodic updates concerning the conference may be found on web site http://www.bts.gov/fcsm.

The 1999 FCSM Research Conference is being sponsored by various Federal government statistical agencies and hosted by the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics.

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Joint Statistical Meetings

Transportation in Baltimore

We are proposing the following schedule for an anticipated $5 one way. We would take advance reservations to ensure seats. On-site tickets would be if seats are available.

Suggested Schedule:

I would appreciate any feedback you can give me on the viability of this service. Specifically:

1. Would you use this service? Would you commit yourself to reserving space on a particular day and time?

2. Is $5 one way a reasonable amount to charge?

3. Would this schedule fit your needs? If not, what would be better?

Please e-mail me with your thoughts (lee@amstat.org). Thanks for your help.

Lee L. Decker, Manager, Meetings
American Statistical Association

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SIGSTAT Meeting for June 1999

All SIGSTAT meeting are held in Waugh A on the 3rd floor of 1800 M St, NW. Directions to the meetings and a full schedule can be found on the SIGSTAT website www.econ.ag.gov/sigstat/.

First-time attendees should contact Charlie Hallahan at 202-694-5051 or hallahan@econ.ag.gov to have their name put on the admittance list.

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Note From The WSS NEWS Editor

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WSS People

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First posted May 28, 1999
Last modified June 7, 1999

Webmaster: Dan Jacobs, Maryland Sea Grant