μ ARGUS version 4 . 2 User ’ s Manual Statistics Netherlands

µ-ARGUS (4.2) user's manual-3-Preface This is the users manual of version 4.1 of µ-ARGUS, a software package to assist in producing safe microdata. The package has been developed under Windows 2000 and runs under Windows versions from Windows 2000 and later. This version is an update of the final version of µ-ARGUS that has been produced in the fifth Framework CASC (Computational Aspects of Statistical Confidentiality) project. This update has been made as part of the CENEX-SDC project in 2006. The purpose of the present manual is to give a potential user enough information so that he can understand the general principles on which µ-ARGUS is based, and also allow him to apply the package. So it contains both general background information and detailed program information. µ−ARGUS is one part of a twin, the other one named τ−ARGUS. τ−ARGUS is a tool to help produce safe tables. Although the twins look quite different, from the inside they have a lot in common. In a sense they are Siamese twins, since their bodies have various organs in common. Nevertheless, a description of τ−ARGUS cannot be found in the present manual, but in a separate one. Somewhat 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 get Io 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 …