Census Bureau supports releasing address database, official says

In a reversal from previous years, the U.S. Census Bureau now leans toward endorsing repealing sections of federal law under Title 13 to allow the release of its nationwide address database, a senior official said.

The census would support public release of addresses but not names, phone numbers, ages or any other personal information collected by the census, Michael Ratcliffe, assistant division chief for geocartographic products in the bureau’s geography division, said Sept 13 at the 2011 Geospatial Summit in Herndon, Va.

Under Title 13, all information collected by the census must be kept confidential to preserve privacy rights. This covers names, phone numbers, addresses and geospatial coordinates, among other data.

Census came in $1.6B under budget, Locke says

Florida site catches what the census missed

Meanwhile, although Google and other Internet companies display nearly every street address in the country publicly on the Web through a sharing of private address databases, the census and other state and local agencies are not able to leverage common address information and they operate with inefficiencies and gaps in their address databases, Ratcliffe said.

By repealing sections of Title 13, the census would be able to release its data publicly and to state and local agencies.

“The census bureau is willing to talk about a repeal,” Ratcliffe said. “A few years ago, the answer would have been ‘no.’ Now, we are willing.”

“The payoff would be greater efficiency,” Ratcliffe continued. “We could leverage local, state and federal coordination for addresses.”

Audience members at the geospatial summit noted that many states and communities are spending large sums of money to develop and maintain accurate and up-to-date address databases that are critical for public safety, police and fire services.

They also noted the difficulties of sharing address information across borders, recognizing that each locality may store its address information in a different electronic format. If the census releases a nationwide database of addresses, presumably that would lead to greater interoperability of address information.

But others also warned of “Big Brother” fears if the government is in charge of public address information. On the other hand, with Google and Bing maps offering nationwide address coverage already, some feel the privacy concerns are overdrawn and the “cat is out of the bag.”