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Project

Census Confidentiality

Protecting the confidentiality of census responses is vital for ensuring that everyone participates. We fight to protect the count by making sure that the government does not abuse your data.

Overview

Robust laws protect the confid­en­ti­al­ity of the inform­a­tion that people provide to the Census Bureau, which is not permit­ted to release person­ally iden­ti­fi­able census responses or use people’s responses against them. Nonethe­less, distrust in the govern­ment can prevent would-be census participants from self-responding or opening their doors to enumerators. In 2020, the Census Bureau found that concerns about confidentiality were one of the primary barriers to census participation.

We launched a far-reach­ing advocacy, organ­iz­ing, and public educa­tion campaign to ensure that every­one knew their rights and that their inform­a­tion is protec­ted.

Experts