Printable Confidentiality Brochure
1. Names,
addresses, and personal identifiers are fully protected by NASS
with the force of law.
After data collection, the National Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS) processes the data independent of names and
addresses. Original paper questionnaires are kept in
a secure area, and then destroyed as prescribed by law. Names,
addresses, phone numbers, and other personal identifiers are
held securely by NASS and used only to conduct official business. Title
7, U.S. Code, Section 2276 and the Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act prohibit public disclosure
of individual information. Personal information, including
reported data, is protected from legal subpoena and Freedom
of Information Act requests.
2. Only
authorized persons working for NASS as employees or sworn
agents, who are subject to fines and imprisonment
for unauthorized disclosure, can access individual record
data and only for approved official purposes.
All information
collected by NASS about individuals or operations under a
pledge of confidentiality is protected by law. Every
person working for or in cooperation with NASS – from
the Agency Administrator to the person collecting the information – signs
a confidentiality form which states that no confidential
reported information will be compromised. This includes
sworn agents who are authorized by NASS to provide data collection
support or statistical research. Any offender is subject
to a jail term (5 years), a fine ($250,000), or both.
3.
Data security is a top priority during preparation of NASS
reports.
Official
USDA statistics issued by the NASS Agricultural Statistics
Board (ASB) are prepared under tight security until public
release of the reports at preannounced dates and times. The
ASB restricts prerelease access to and communication about
survey and census results. In many cases, a locked
area with a uniformed guard is employed to prevent premature
disclosure of market-sensitive information. NASS official
statistics are released to everyone at the same time. Reports
are available on the Internet within seconds of the scheduled
release.
4.
Published statistics from NASS surveys and censuses will
not disclose reported data from an individual.
Individual
participants in a NASS survey can rest assured that summary
data will not be published in a way that would identify them
or data for their operation without their written permission. For
instance, if only one farm in a county produced a particular
crop, then NASS will protect the privacy of that individual
farm by combining the data for that crop with reports from
other counties to publish only combined totals.
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