Research on Data Confidentiality
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE)
Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
(CISE)
Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR)
Dear Colleague:
Programs in SBE, CISE, and EHR are soliciting research proposals
to explore ways of improving the confidentiality of data about
individuals and organizations while also permitting legitimate
social and research uses of that data. Confidentiality refers to
the obligations of individuals and institutions not to transmit
identifiable information – regarding an individual or an
organization -- to an unauthorized party. Rules of confidentiality
protect and preserve individual privacy, and proprietary or restricted
organizational information. Data confidentiality focuses on ways
of effectively maintaining the agreement made to a data provider
by a data gatherer regarding access to information.*
New capacities to collect and integrate data about individuals
and organizations offer expanded potential for scientists and policy-makers
to understand factors contributing to key national priorities like
job, income and wealth creation, as well as career path, health,
medical and retirement decisions. The potential benefits of these
new data capabilities come with certain costs. New data collection
methods and substantial archives of static information, for example
income, consumption, health and genetic data, pose troubling confidentiality
questions. The emerging cyberinfrastructure connecting observing
and sensing systems, intelligent and remotely operable instrumentation,
collaboratories, federated data archives, and digital libraries
will only compound data confidentiality problems.
This Dear Colleague Letter is seen as an initial step toward meeting
the goal of innovatively developing confidentiality protections
while maximizing appropriate use of the data. We are particularly
interested in approaches which combine techniques that have been
developed somewhat separately in a number of different disciplines,
including computer and information science and engineering and
the social, behavioral and economic sciences. The purpose of this
letter is to call to the attention of the relevant research communities
the disciplinary and interdisciplinary research opportunities that
now exist for research on data confidentiality. Proposals with
the following features are strongly encouraged:
- analyses and solutions of data confidentiality issues
in real-world contexts;
- focus on data collection and data access
issues and solutions.
Opportunities for funding include the following:
Cyber Trust Program Solicitation http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2006/nsf06517/nsf06517.htm
Contact : Karl Levitt (klevitt@nsf.gov)
Information and Intelligent Systems Solicitation
http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=IIS
Contact: Le Gruenwald (lgruenwa@nsf.gov)
Human and Social Dynamics
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf06509
Contact: Mark Weiss (mweiss@nsf.gov)
Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5421&org=SES&from=home
Contact: Cheryl Eavey (ceavey@nsf.gov)
Research, Evaluation, and Communication
http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=REC
Contact: Larry Suter (lsuter@nsf.gov)
Principal investigators should consult the specific solicitations
and program announcements to make sure they are meeting relevant
proposal requirements.
If you have additional questions about relevant programs in the
Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE), please
contact Cheryl Eavey (ceavey@nsf.gov). If you have additional questions
about relevant solicitations in the Computer and Information Science
and Engineering Directorate (CISE), please contact Le Gruenwald
(lgruenwald@nsf.gov). If you have additional questions about relevant
programs in the Education and Human Resources Directorate (EHR),
please contact Larry Suter (lsuter@nsf.gov). If you have questions
about related activities in data confidentiality at NIH contact
Georgeanne Patmios (patmiosg@nia.nih.gov).
* Private Lives and Public Policies: Confidentiality
and Accessibility of Government Statistics (Committee on National Statistics, NRC
and the Social Science Research Council, National Academy Press,
1993), p. 22-3 and Expanding Access to Research
Data: Reconciling Risks and Opportunities (Committee on National Statistics, NRC
and the Social Science Research Council, National Academy Press,
2005), p. 8.
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