1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

The new Department of Commerce order “Disclosure Avoidance for Statistical Products” (DAO 216-26) that limits the types of privacy protection methods that the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) can use for their data products subverts processes developed over decades to foster transparency and public trust. It creates a scenario in which there will either be less privacy for our personal information, or less usable data, or both. This order should be rescinded. No decisions about our privacy should be made behind closed doors, without expert input, and without public input. The American people deserve accountability, transparency, and decisions made based on expertise not politics.