DATA PRIVACY OF AGRICULTURAL HOLDERS IN THE 2024 AGRICULTURE CENSUS OF IRAN

Abstract

Data privacy of respondents and confidentiality of statistics are integral parts of the surveys that the National Statistical Offices conduct. These elements ensure the respondents of the confidentiality of the data they provide and how these data are used to benefit the society. The National Statistical Offices employ different strategies to increase the participation rate in their surveys which contribute to the quality and confidentiality of the collected data. The Statistical Centre of Iran, which is considered 
the sole provider of official statistics on the socio-economic situation in Iran, conducted the last National Agriculture Census of Iran in the Autumn of 2024. This paper looks at the adopted provisions of this Centre for preserving the confidentiality of the data of agricultural holders aimed at avoiding the data leak and preserving the data privacy and confidentiality of statistics they provided. The Statistical Centre of Iran practiced the protocols of the Information Security and Management System (ISMS) as the 
management system for its data privacy and also follows its own Data Confidentiality Assurance Policy. The objectives of this system and policy were to ensure the protection of the information assets of the Statistical Center of Iran such as the data and information obtained from censuses, sampling methods, and administrative and statistical records that are stored in the servers, workstations, and its databases. The activities done based on these provisions and procedures in this census including the 
training of the individuals working in all the fields of the census on the issue of confidentiality of statistics and how to preserve it, regularly delivering of all the concerned documents such as filled questionnaires and other hardcopies of information to the supervisors, restricting the individuals who can access the filled 
questionnaires and determining authorized people for accessing the data inputting sites led to securing the privacy of collected data and ensuring the agricultural holders of the confidentiality of their statistics.