Configuring privacy controls
When you create a dataset, by default the rounding and redaction thresholds will be set to 100 individuals.
Privacy controls are safeguards built into InfoSum Platform, designed to prevent accidental or deliberate identification of individuals through queries. In a nutshell, they are designed to prevent queries reporting on very small numbers of individuals and are described in detail here.
Two of the privacy controls can be configured in a Bunker:
- Rounding defines the number that every result will be rounded down to so, if the threshold is set to 100, a result of 2,563,975 rows would be reported as 2,563,900.
- Redaction defines the minimum size of a group so, if the threshold is set to 100, then a result of 87 rows wouldn't be reported on.
When you create a dataset, by default the rounding and redaction thresholds will be set to 100 individuals. These thresholds can be viewed and increased within a Bunker under the Settings tab.
If you want to change a threshold, then choose the required thresholds, click Save, and republish the dataset. If you do not republish the dataset, the new threshold settings will not apply.
If you change a threshold, this may have an effect on query results. If you set the rounding threshold to 500, then every query involving this dataset will be held to this threshold. Similarly, if you were to set the redaction threshold to 250, a query result with a group smaller than 250 would be redacted.