Special tabulations must be approved by the Census Bureau’s Disclosure Review Board (DRB). The DRB is a panel of Census Bureau staff chartered to protect the confidentiality of data from individuals (or business establishments). Their role is to review each special tabulation specification and to issue specific rules in addition to standard confidentiality protection measures.

Title 13 of the U.S. Code authorizes the Census Bureau to conduct surveys and censuses and mandates that any information obtained from private individuals and establishments remains confidential. Section 9 of Title 13 prohibits the Census Bureau from releasing “any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular establishment or individual under this title can be identified.” Section 214 of Title 13, as modified by the Federal Sentencing Reform Act, imposes a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 5 years for publication or communication in violation of Section 9.

Therefore, upon completion of the tabulation, the data produced will be reviewed by the Census Bureau to ensure that no identifiable Title 13 data are or may be disclosed.  Should it be determined that the requested tabulation does or reasonably could result in such disclosure, it will not be released to the requester. In that event, the data will be modified to further protect confidentiality.

Disclosure avoidance is the process of disguising data to protect confidentiality. A disclosure of data occurs when someone can use publicly available statistical information to identify an individual who provided information under a pledge of confidentiality. Using disclosure avoidance, the Census Bureau modifies or removes all of the characteristics that put confidential information at risk for disclosure. Although it may appear that a table shows information about a specific individual, the Census Bureau has taken steps (such as data swapping) to disguise the original data while making sure the results are useful.

For more information, see the Census Bureau’s policy on data protection.