Adam Stoner

Security and effectiveness of a digital census

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Read this full post at adamstoner.com/census

March 21st is census day in England and Wales and an important milestone because the 2021 census is the first mostly-digital census ever conducted here.

A digital census has its obvious benefits, namely that statistics can be gleamed immediately on the available data. What interests me is not the results of the census but the data security and privacy implications that a digital census inherently has and whether, considering we already share so much of ourselves anyway, a census is fit for purpose. 

Concern around data privacy and government surveillance has increased in recent years. The revelations of Edward Snowden, Christopher Wylie and other whistleblowers have all come to light since the last census and knowledge that the data we provide companies is being used to profile and sell us is hardly secret. In July 2019, the Information Commissioner’s Office conducted a survey that revealed that the public has a 'low level of confidence in companies and organisations storing and using personal information' mostly thanks to concerns about data theft, data misuse, and that data being sold. The Open Data Institute and YouGov in October 2019 discovered that less than a third of citizens trust central government or local authorities with their data. More 25 to 34 year olds trust credit card companies than they do our elected leaders. 

Data from the census is consumed in two key ways. The first is instant and is available to statisticians as soon as you begin submitting information; the second features a time-delay of 100 years. 

  1. Anonymised, aggregated statistics such as population and demographic. Your individual data point is featured here but you are not individually identifiable.
  2. Personally indentifiable information. Information specific to you available for public consumption after 100 years, including your address, religion, sexuality and more.

The Census 2021 website says that 'everyone working on the census signs the Census Confidentiality Undertaking' and that '[i]t’s a crime for them to unlawfully share personal census information' but the law didn't prevent the release of 3.2 billion records from data breaches in the first two months of 2021, so why it would be a deterrent here I do not know.

All this said, digital censuses are more undoubtedly more robust and arguably immutable than paper ones: 1931 census returns were completely destroyed in a fire in Middlesex where the census was being stored which is a terrible shame. Could we one day see a blockchain census?

The census asks several questions but they fall into three categories: 

  1. What and where you are: Your address, your biological birth sex, your age
  2. Who you identify as: Your gender, your sexuality, your religious beliefs 
  3. How you live: Homeowner or renter, how many cars you own

A census is remarkably useful, representing in solid statistics changing behaviours and outlooks but I'd also argue it's not the business of anyone what sexuality you are, what God you might want to believe in, nor what the relationship you have with the people in your household is. The rest – where you live, how old you are, and whether you own a car or rent a home – is already available from HMRC, the DVLA, and more. 

Photographer Noah Kalina reflected on this idea stating that a photograph is worth more many years after it's taken and I think that sentiment is applicable here too. A census, or something like the Mass Observation diary project, is potentially our best way of measuring the past but we have many better ways of measuring the present. As a matter of fact, censuses are so useless at measuring 'right now' that people are already calling for a second 'emergency census' in 2026 given the impact coronavirus and the UK's exit from the European Union has had on our lifestyles.