THE 2006 eCENSUS

This information was published in the leadup to the 2006 Census.

WHAT IS THE eCENSUS?

In 2006, everyone in Australia will have the option of either completing their Census the traditional way (paper form) or electronically (eCensus). The eCensus will allow people to complete the Census via the Internet.

The eCensus has the potential to improve data collection, especially where Collectors face challenges in collecting completed forms (like in secure apartment buildings or in rural Australia).

Ultimately, an efficient collection method leads to faster processing of Census information and this means communities and decision-makers have access to the results earlier.


HOW SECURE IS THE eCENSUS?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is bound by the Census and Statistics Act (1905) to protect the confidentiality of the information you provide to the ABS. To ensure that your Census information is delivered to the ABS securely, we have used the strongest encryption technology that current browsers will support.

Encryption uses two keys, a public key to encode the data and a private key to decode the data. eCensus data sent over the Internet is encoded using the public key but can only be decoded by the private key, which remains confidential to the ABS. Without the private key the data is unreadable. This means that eCensus data sent to the ABS via the Internet is not able to be read by anyone other than the ABS and the person who entered it.

The security of Census information also relies upon the confidentiality of the eCensus Number. Ensuring that your household's eCensus Number is stored in a secure manner will prevent others from using the number to access your information. Once the eCensus form has been submitted, it cannot be retrieved.

Before using eCensus it is important to consider the security of your own PC.


HOW IS THE eCENSUS ACCESSIBLE FOR PEOPLE WITH A VISION IMPAIRMENT?

The eCensus has been designed to comply with accepted accessibility standards as set out by the World Wide Web Consortium. Text in the eCensus can be resized and contrasting colours have been used to make the text easier to read. For people using screen readers, the form has been designed to be compatible with commonly used screenreader programs such as Jaws© and Windows Eyes©.