Despite the serious privacy concerns first raised by the Pirate Party in March, and now shared by thousands of Australians as well as the Greens, Nick Xenophon and Andrew Wilkie, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has continued to forge ahead with the invasive 2016 Census. For the first time the ABS is planning to keep names for four years, linking very personal information asked by the Census questionnaire. Like many, the Pirate Party has raised objections to the collection of identifying information, and now calls on the ABS to declare the giving of “Name” and “Address” optional.

“The ABS has not properly consulted with the Australian public on this new, more invasive version of the Census,” said Simon Frew, President of the Pirate Party. “Names are not required by law according to former Australian Statistician Bill McLennan [PDF], and it is difficult to see how names could help with statistical analysis. Collecting names does, however, increase the danger of privacy breaches for Australian citizens which, given the ABS has been subject to 14 data breaches in the last three years, is particularly concerning. A simple way for the ABS put many Australians at ease is to make it optional for people to give their names and address.”

Social media has exploded with people requesting additional details from the ABS on how the data will be stored, the ability for data to be de-anonymised and their strict legal obligations with regard to providing correct information, and the ABS’s responses have been remarkably cagey, always skirting around giving clear answers to clear questions. Even with regard to the four year limitation for storage of names, the ABS has made it clear that they will be connecting census data to other data sources, but has not made it clear whether the other data will also include names. If that is the case, then any destruction of Census name data would be irrelevant.

“Issues of security seem to be plaguing the ABS. The website has poor security reports, and collects metadata as well as IP information if forms are completed online. The ABS field agents will be using their own personal devices and an app to relay private data to the office, and the best security assurance that David Kalisch can give us regarding future hacking threats is that they’ve not been hacked in the past,” Mr Frew continued. “This does not bode well for the secure handling of the very sensitive private data that the Census aims to collect.”

“The most frustrating aspect of the cavalier approach to privacy on display by the ABS is the damage done to the Bureau’s own reputation. The data published by the ABS is important to understanding the country and supports evidence-based policy development. Through this pig-headed refusal to acknowledge legitimate privacy concerns, they are undermining their own data by destroying the trust required for Australian people to give them their private information.”

“People concerned with having their names linked to all of the private data collected by the census should request paper forms and leave the name fields blank to protest and register their disgust. However, in order to avoid paying fines, everyone has until September 23 to provide the missing data if the ABS follows it up. The Pirate Party hopes that the ABS sees sense and does not follow up on those in the Australian community who are privacy-conscious,” Mr Frew concluded.