The Census Is Getting Personal

Emotions on all sides are far more extreme for this video than I anticipated. This presents a good opportunity for people post reviews of experiences they have through the year with actual Census workers so we can get a rough overview of how the Census Bureau is doing its job.

This video itemizes the fundamental legal questions that the Census Bureau refused to answer for me about its collection and use of personal information (see questions below). This program aired on Matrix News Network (syndicated national television) in January of 2010.

Once your information is out there, it is out there for good. There is no such thing as a "secure database" in government. Government data is bought, lost, stolen and viewed every day by everyone from law enforcement to criminals at all levels of society. There are even rumors that Census workers make deals to sell information to private parties. Beyond that is the question, if we agree to pass over our private information to bureaucrats, is there any limit to what they will ask for next?

On the other hand many people have expressed strong views that the Census is critical to facilitate effective and efficient allocation and distribution of public resources, not to mention the original purpose of establishing the number of seats in the House of Representatives.

The greatest confusion has been about the recent long-form-short-form issue.
There is a pdf file of the Census Bureau's AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY (long form) Questionnairre at:

http://www.census.gov/acs/www/SBasics/SQuest/SQuest1.htm

If you are not disturbed by the questions they will ask you on the long form then you are not reading it carefully.

Many people have requested this list:

QUESTIONS THAT THE CENSUS BUREAU REFUSED OR FAILED TO ANSWER (from Jerry Day's Matrix News Network segment: "The Census Is Getting Personal") I strongly suggest asking these questions of your Census Taker, especially if they show up with an "American Community Survey" form:

1) The Constitution authorizes government to count people but it does not authorize the taking of private information or even the names of individuals. From where does the Census Bureau derive authority to demand our private information?

2) Is there any limit to the amount and type of private information that the Census bureau may demand and collect?

3) Under what Constitutional authority does the Census Bureau collect information now from 250,000 people per month of every year?

4) The 4th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits government search and seizure of private information without a court warrant based on probable cause. Current Census policies violate that Amendment do they not?

5) By what Constitutional authority does the Census Bureau threaten penalties for failure to provide personal information?

6) The Census Bureau claims it maintains privacy of personal information. Are there any circumstances under which law enforcement or spy agencies can access Census information?

7) Since presumably Census data may be subpoenaed by law enforcement, may individuals refuse to answer questions according to the fifth Amendment?

8) Why has the Census Bureau decided to collect GPS coordinates for every home?

9) Virtually every government database has been either lost, hacked or compromised. Would the Census Bureau's claim of data security not be an outright lie or at best highly improbable?

10) How would the Census Bureau locate, protect and compensate those individuals whose data becomes compromised?