1 Introduction
1.1 Preface
This is the user's manual for
Nevertheless with respect to the previous release of
We have also added the option to use a free open solver (soplex) in addition to the classical commercial solvers like cplex and Xpress. However we expect that these commercial solvers are still very much needed, when we want to protect large serious tables. The purpose of
The purpose of the present manual is to give a potential user enough information so that he can understand the general principles on which
1.2 About the name ARGUS
Some what jokingly the name Argus can be interpreted as the acronym of ‘Anti-Re-identification General Utility System’2. As a matter of fact, the name Argus was inspired by a myth of the ancient Greeks. In this myth Zeus has a girl friend named Io. Hera, Zeus’ wife, did not approve of this relationship and turned Io into a cow. She let the monster Argus guard Io. Argus seemed to be particularly well qualified for this job, because it had a hundred eyes that could watch over Io. If it would fall asleep only two of its eyes were closed. That would leave plenty of eyes to watch Io. Zeus was eager to find a way to getIo back. He hired Hermes who could make Argus fall asleep by the enchanting music on his flute. When Hermes played his flute to Argus this indeed happened: all its eyes closed, one by one. When Hermes had succeeded in making Argus fall asleep, Argus was decapitated. Argus’ eyes were planted onto a bird’s tail - a type of bird that we now know under the name of peacock. That explains why a peacock has these eye-shaped marks on its tail. This also explains the picture on the cover of this manual. It is a copper plate engraving of Gerard de Lairesse (1641-1711) depicting the process where the eyes of Argus are being removed and placed on the peacock’s tail3.
Like the mythological Argus, the software is supposed to guard something, in this case data. This is where the similarity between the myth and the package is supposed to end, as we believe that the package is a winner and not a loser as the mythological Argus is.
1.3 Contact
Feedback from users will help improve future versions of
1.4 Open Source
In the open source world the responsibility for the software is different. The idea behind open source is that the software code is no longer owned by one institute (Statistics Netherlands), but the source is available for anybody. Anybody can also contribute to the code and make his own extensions. Nevertheless we do not want to have many different versions of the software and many diversions. Therefore there will always be one official version of
Nevertheless the above mentioned email address (argus@cbs.nl) will remain open for questions.
1.5 Acknowledgments
The Open Source transition was supported by a Eurostat grant (61102.2012.001-2012.102).
The German partners Statistisches Bundesamt (Sarah Giessing and Dietz Repsilber) have contributed the GHMITER software, which offers a solution for secondary cell suppression based on hypercubes. Peter-Paul de Wolf has built a search algorithm based on non-hierarchical optimal solutions. This algorithm breaks down a large hierarchical table into small non-hierarchical subtables, which are then individually protected. A team led by JJ Salazar of the University La Laguna Tenerife, Spain, has developed the optimisation routines. Additionally Jordi Castro, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, has developed a solution based on networks. Jordi Castro also developed the CTA solution. The controlled rounding procedure has been developed by JJ Salazar in a project sponsored by ONS. In order to enhance the usability
For solving these optimisation problems,
1.6 Latest improvements
The latest extensions in version 4.1 of τ‑argus are :
New structure of the interface, making the table it self the central window.
Controlled Tabular Adjustment.
Rewritten Open Source Code in JAVA.
C++ dlls for data manipulation and the modular approach have been adapted for the Open Source compilers.
The use of free Open Solvers complementary to the commercial solvers.
1.7 The structure of this manual
The remaining part of this manual consists of four chapters and an index. In Chapter 2 we will give a short introduction to the theory and methodology. However for a more fundamental description we refer to the Wiley handbook on Statistical Disclosure Control4. This handbook is the result of the joined work of the SDC specialists in Europe working together for a long period.
In Chapter 3 a short tour of
See Anco Hundepool et al. 2014,
-Argus version 5.1 user’s lanual, Statistics Netherlands, The Hague, The Netherlands.↩︎This interpretation is due to Peter Kooiman, former head of the methodology department at Statistics Netherlands.↩︎
The original copy of this engraving is in the collection of ‘Het Leidsch Prentenkabinet’ in Leiden, The Netherlands.↩︎
Anco Hundepool, Josep Domingo-Ferrer, Luisa Franconi, Sarah Giessing, Eric Schulte Nordholt, Keith Spicer, Peter-Paul de Wolf (2012), Statistical Disclosure control, ISBN: 978-119-97815-2, Wiley.↩︎