ABS perturbation methodology through the lens of differential privacy

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), like other national statistical offices, is considering the opportunities of differential privacy (DP). This research considers the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) TableBuilder perturbation methodology in a DP framework. DP and the ABS perturbation methodology are applying the same idea – infusing noise to the underlying microdata – to protect aggregate statistical outputs. This research describes some differences between these approaches. Our findings show that noise infusion protects against disclosure risks in the aggregate Census Tables. We highlight areas of future ABS research on this topic.