PCIG at JSM 2026

The PCIG is organizing a number of events at this year’s JSM in Boston.

This page will be updated as more information becomes available. Please check back for updates.

PCIG Mixer and Happy Hour

Join the Privacy & Confidentiality Interest Group (PCIG) for an informal mixer and happy hour during JSM!

📅 Tuesday, August 4, 5:30–7:30 PM (please note the updated time!)
📍 Lord Hobo Brewing (2 Drydock Ave, Boston)
Just a short walk from the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

Whether you’re a long-time PCIG member or are simply interested in privacy, confidentiality, disclosure limitation, synthetic data, or related topics, we’d love to meet you! Come connect with colleagues, make new connections, and learn more about the PCIG community.

This event is kindly co-sponsored by OpenDP.

🍻 Appetizers and drinks will be provided while supplies last on a first-come, first-served basis.

We look forward to seeing you there!

OpenDP Hackathon

UPDATE: We decided to not hold a hackathon because there wasn’t a time that worked for enough people, but folks interested in learning more about OpenDP or its R bindings specifically should talk to OpenDP team members at the mixer.

OpenDP would like to offer a free hackathon centered on the OpenDP Library’s R API during the week of JSM if there is sufficient interest.

The hackathon will be led by the library architect, Michael Shoemate, and will start with a brief introduction and tutorial, followed by working on a real problem with the library. OpenDP plans to book a space within a couple blocks of the convention center for 4 hours, and they need to get a headcount, and what time would work best. If you have any questions about the event, please contact contact@opendp.org.

Roundtable on a Differential Privacy Deployment Registry

The PCIG is sponsoring a lunch roundtable on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) proposed guidelines for creating “A Community-Driven Differential Privacy Deployment Registry.” The roundtable is being organized by Gary Howarth and Salil Vadhan.

📅 Tuesday, August 4, 12:30 PM–1:50 PM
📍 CC Ballroom Foyer (Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center)

🔗 More information on the JSM program website.

Note: Roundtables require an additional registration fee to attend.

Sessions on Privacy and Confidentiality at JSM 2026

(Much of this has been gratefully copied from Michael Hawes’s recent AMSTAT News piece.)

Programming for this year’s JSM includes a number of excellent sessions on the subjects of privacy, confidentiality, disclosure limitation, synthetic data, and differential privacy, such as:

Together, these sessions offer an excellent opportunity to engage with current work on disclosure avoidance, synthetic data, privacy-preserving methods, transparency, reproducibility, and the practical governance challenges shaping the future of statistical disclosure limitation. We particularly want to highlight the first session, which will discuss the Department of Commerce’s recent order on disclosure avoidance and include an opportunity for the audience to ask questions to Commerce Department and Census Bureau leadership.

Looking for more? For a full list of sessions on privacy and confidentiality at JSM 2026, see this list.(Please let us know if we have missed any sessions and we will add them.)

Table at the Expo Center

The PCIG is hosting a table at the JSM Expo Center. Stop by to hear more about the PCIG and meet some of our members.

📍 Table Number: 4

🕒 Hours: See here

If you would like to help out staffing the table (any amount of time is much appreciated!), please contact us.

Joining the PCIG

We actively welcome new members and encourage anyone interested in privacy and confidentiality to join the PCIG. It’s free to join! Please see our membership page for more information.

We are also looking for volunteers to join our committees. We will be running elections for committee chairs later this year and are currently seeking nominations. If you are interested in volunteering, please get in touch. We have positions to suit any level of experience and time commitment, and we would love to have you join us.

More events, and information on privacy and confidentiality related presentations, to come – stay tuned!