Government

Data Scientists Square Off Over Trust and Privacy in 2020 Census

As the Census Bureau releases redistricting data, researchers are split over a security measure called differential privacy that can blur population figures. 

An aerial view shows the Statue of Liberty in New York on August 5, 2021.Photographer: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

New York’s Liberty Island, population 0, has emerged as the unlikely center of a tug-of-war over the U.S census.

Aside from the Statue of Liberty, no one’s called the island home since 2012, when the former superintendent’s home was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, leaving Liberty Island unoccupied for the first time in hundreds of years.