Editing United States Census Bureau (section)

=== Data stewardship ===
The United States Census Bureau is committed to confidentiality and guarantees non-disclosure of any addresses or personal information related to individuals or establishments. [[Title 13 of the United States Code|Title 13]] of the [[United States Code|U.S. Code]] establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information. All census employees must sign an [[affidavit]] of non-disclosure prior to employment. This non-disclosure states {{qi|I will not disclose any information contained in the schedules, lists, or statements obtained for or prepared by the Census Bureau to any person or persons either during or after employment.}}<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=United States Census Bureau |title=Oath of Non-Disclosure |url=https://www.census.gov/about/policies/privacy/data_stewardship/oath_of_non-disclosure.html |access-date=May 5, 2024 |website=Census.gov}}</ref> The punishment for breaking the non-disclosure is a fine up to $250,000 or five years in prison.

The bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone, including the United States or foreign governments, or law enforcement agencies such as the [[IRS]] or the [[FBI]] or [[Interpol]]. {{qi|Providing quality data, for public good—while respecting individual privacy and, at the same time, protecting confidentiality—is the Census Bureau's core responsibility}}; {{qi|Keeping the public's trust is critical to the Census's ability to carry out the mission as the leading source of quality data about the Nation's people and economy.}}<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.census.gov/po/www/foia/D590.pdf|date=April 2009|title=Census Employee Handbook|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117214039/http://www.census.gov/po/www/foia/D590.pdf|archive-date=January 17, 2012}}</ref> Only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public.<ref name="The 72-Year Rule">{{cite web|title=72-Year Rule|url=https://www.census.gov/history/www/genealogy/decennial_census_records/the_72_year_rule_1.html|website=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=November 20, 2015|archive-date=April 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416202132/https://www.census.gov/history/www/genealogy/decennial_census_records/the_72_year_rule_1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Seventy-two years was picked because usually by 72 years since the census is taken, most participants would be deceased.<ref name="The 72-Year Rule" />

Despite these guarantees of confidentiality, the Census Bureau has some history of disclosures to other government agencies. In 1918, the Census Bureau released individual information regarding several hundred young men to the Justice Department and [[Selective Service]] system for the purpose of prosecutions for draft evasion.<ref>{{citation |url=http://aascpress.metapress.com/content/jk115283m54v4313/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701170027/http://aascpress.metapress.com/content/jk115283m54v4313/ |url-status=dead|archive-date=July 1, 2012|journal=[[Amerasia Journal]] |publisher=[[UCLA Asian American Studies Center]] Press|issn=0044-7471|volume=8|number=2|date=Fall–Winter 1981|pages=111–120|title=The Myth of Census Confidentiality |doi=10.17953/amer.8.2.jk115283m54v4313|last1=Okamura|first1=Raymond Y.|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/census-confidentiality-checks-is-mail|title=Census Confidentiality? The Check's in the Mail|author=David Kopel|date=May 4, 1990|publisher=[[Cato Institute]]|author-link=David Kopel|access-date=February 9, 2020|archive-date=August 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805183101/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/census-confidentiality-checks-is-mail|url-status=live}}</ref> During [[World War II]], the United States Census Bureau assisted the government's [[Japanese American internment]] efforts by providing confidential neighborhood information on [[Japanese-Americans]]. The bureau's role was denied for decades but was finally proven in 2007.<ref>{{citation|title=Confirmed: The U.S. Census Bureau Gave Up Names of Japanese-Americans in WW II|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=confirmed-the-us-census-b&sc=I100322|work=[[Scientific American]]|author=JR Minkel|date=March 30, 2007|access-date=March 20, 2010|archive-date=August 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829181345/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=confirmed-the-us-census-b&sc=I100322|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-30-census-role_N.htm |title=Papers show Census role in WWII camps |work=[[USA Today]] |author=Haya El Nasser |date=March 30, 2007 |access-date=September 17, 2017 |archive-date=August 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826005305/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-30-census-role_N.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

United States census data are valuable for the country's political parties; [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] are highly interested in knowing the accurate number of persons in their respective districts.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nobles|first=Melissa|date=2000|title=Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in Modern Politics|location=Stanford, CA|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=ix|isbn=9780804740135}}</ref> These insights are often linked to financial and economic strategies that are central to federal, state and city investments for locations of particular populations.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Breiman|first1=Leo|date=1994|title=The 1991 Census Adjustment: Undercount or Bad Data?|journal=[[Statist. Sci.]]|volume=9|issue=4|pages=458–475|doi=10.1214/ss/1177010259|doi-access=free}}</ref> Such apportionments are designed to distribute political power across neutral spatial allocations; however, {{qi|because so much is at stake, the census also runs the risk of being politicized.}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Margo|last2=Fienberg|first2=Stephen|date=1999|title=Who Counts?: The Politics of Census-Taking in Contemporary America|jstor=10.7758/9781610440059|publisher=[[Russell Sage Foundation]]|page=17|isbn=978-1-61044-005-9}}</ref>

Such political tensions highlight the complexity of [[Identity (social science)|identity]] and [[classification]]; some argue that unclear results from the population data {{qi|is due to distortions brought about by political pressures.}}<ref name="Petersen 1987 187–234">{{cite book|last=Petersen|first=William|editor-last1=Alonso|editor-first1=William|editor-last2=Starr|editor-first2=Paul|title=The Politics of Numbers|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofnumber00alon_0|chapter-url-access=registration|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|date=1987|pages=[https://archive.org/details/politicsofnumber00alon_0/page/187 187–234]|chapter=Politics and the Measurement of Ethnicity|isbn=978-1-61044-002-8}}</ref> One frequently used example includes ambiguous ethnic counts, which often involves underenumeration and/or undercounting of minority populations.<ref name="Petersen 1987 187–234"/> Ideas about race, ethnicity and identity have also evolved in the United States, and such changes warrant examination of how these shifts have impacted the accuracy of census data over time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2015/02/06/103605/infographic-government-collection-of-race-and-ethnicity-data|title=Government collection of race and ethnicity data|last1=Ahmad|first1=Farah|last2=Hagler|first2=Jamal|publisher=[[Center for American Progress]]|date=February 6, 2015|access-date=November 18, 2017|archive-date=November 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110181801/https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2015/02/06/103605/infographic-government-collection-of-race-and-ethnicity-data/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The United States Census Bureau began pursuing technological innovations to improve the precision of its census data collection in the 1980s. Robert W. Marx, the Chief of the Geography Division of the USCB, teamed up with the [[United States Geological Survey|U.S. Geological Survey]] and oversaw the creation of the [[Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing]] (TIGER) database system.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |url=http://www.aag.org/cs/membership/tributes_memorials/mr/marx_robert_w |title=Memorials and Tributes: Robert W. Marx |magazine=American Association of Geographers Newsletter |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=14 |access-date=November 20, 2017 |archive-date=December 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032825/http://www.aag.org/cs/membership/tributes_memorials/mr/marx_robert_w |url-status=live }}</ref> Census officials were able to evaluate the more sophisticated and detailed results that the TIGER system produced; furthermore, TIGER data is also available to the public. And while the TIGER system does not directly amass demographic data, as a [[geographic information system]] (GIS), it can be used to merge [[demographics]] to conduct more accurate geospatial and mapping analysis.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ostenso|first1=John|date=1991|title=The Statistics Corner: More New Products from the Census Bureau |jstor=23485837 |journal=Business Economics|volume=26|issue=4|pages=62–64}}</ref>

In July 2019, the Census Bureau stopped releasing new data via American FactFinder, which was decommissioned in March 2020 after 20 years of being the agency's primary tool for data dissemination.<ref>{{cite press release|title=American FactFinder Is Retiring March 31|url=https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/american-factfinder-retiring.html|access-date=December 23, 2020|date=March 17, 2020|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|archive-date=December 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218004518/https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/american-factfinder-retiring.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The new platform is data.census.gov.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/data/academy/webinars/2019/transition-data-census.html |title=Accessing Census Data in 2019: The Transition to data.census.gov |publisher=US Census Bureau |language=EN-US |access-date=July 11, 2019 |archive-date=July 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711010422/https://www.census.gov/data/academy/webinars/2019/transition-data-census.html |url-status=live }}</ref>