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Is My Privacy Protected?

Privacy and Confidentiality

The Census Bureau is required by law to keep your information confidential and can use your responses for statistical purposes only. The Census Bureau is not permitted to publicly release your responses in a way that could identify you. Federal law protects your privacy and keeps your answers confidential (Title 13, United States Code, Section 9). Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, your data are protected from cybersecurity risks through screening of the systems that transmit your data. Your response is voluntary and failure to provide some or all of the requested information will not in any way adversely affect you. 

To ensure the privacy and confidentiality of all participants are protected, the survey will be conducted over a secure connection (https) and unique credentials (usernames and passwords) are provided to each respondent. Only project staff will have access to individual-level data and all project staff will sign affidavits of nondisclosure. All personally identifying information (PII) collected during the study will be removed from the analytic data files. For more information on the Census Bureau’s Data Protection and Privacy principles, please see our data protection website at //www.census.gov/privacy/.

Census Oath of Nondisclosure

When hired to work for the Census Bureau, employees must sign a Sworn Affidavit of Nondisclosure.

This obligates those hired to accept the responsibility of keeping all Title 13 data confidential. This constitutes a lifetime obligation, continuing even if you are no longer affiliated with the Census Bureau.

"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."

Under federal law, the penalty for unlawful disclosure is a fine of not more than $250,000 or imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both.

 

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Page Last Revised - December 16, 2021
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