Census Time Heightens Privacy Concerns

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Don’t trust the government to keep your personal information safe? Apparently you are not alone. It seems that almost half of the people polled aren’t confident in the government’s ability to keep your info secure. Heh, now there is a vote of no confidence if I ever saw one.

A Zogby poll released last week reveals that 49 percent of Americans are not confident that their data will be kept confidential, while only 46 percent believe it will be. Some illegal immigrants worry that their census forms will be shared with Homeland Security and lead to deportation. And conservatives including Ron Paul, the former Republican presidential candidate, say questions like race and homeownership have no basis in the U.S. Constitution.
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Illegal immigrants are worried about being deported? Well if they are here illegally they need to be fucking deported!
 
They will only find out how many people live in my house.
 
I only filled out the information I figured they needed to know. If the rest of the information is imperative, they can send someone out to retrieve it. Good luck with my cooperation.
 
I sealed mine up and mailed it back. I don't need a worker coming up asking me the questions, which they likely will. I had that happen in 2000.

Because if you think for one hot minute that your invisible to the government then your delusional. Tax returns, employer information, social security, if your a part of those, then they already know you are here. A few more questions didn't mean anything to me because of what they already know.
 
Derangel said:
Illegal immigrants are worried about being deported? Well if they are here illegally they need to be fucking deported!
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According to the 5th Amendment, they should not be required to give information that could incriminate them, so they have a Constitutional argument in support of not answering census questions. Interestingly, it is a defense that a U.S. citizen does not have.
 
Oh god I told the government that I'm a white male!!!! What if someone else finds out?????

What a joke. Most people put more information on their goddamn facebook pages.
 
Sabrewulf165 said:
Oh god I told the government that I'm a white male!!!! What if someone else finds out?????

What a joke. Most people put more information on their goddamn facebook pages.
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Pretty much how I felt too, nothing that isn't public record or available by looking at a picture of my family. Big f'n deal and I'm paranoid about what information I put out in general. My FB page is as empty as possible just have enough info for friends to find me.

I did find it funny they asked for age immediately followed by DOB though. Guess someone is bad at math.
 
IMO this is important information that the government could likely get anyway just by pulling all of the public info on you. I'm sure if you were a terrorist they'd know more than this in a snap anyway.

I did door-to-door census work in 2000 for a few weeks. Some folks didn't want to answer the questions in the long form. I can understand objections to that.

But the short form? Seriously? Come on. This is in the fracking constitution, people. They've been doing it for a couple of hundred years now. Just do the damn thing.
 
And this suddenly reminded me that I need to toss my form in the mail today.
 
darkpaw said:
I did find it funny they asked for age immediately followed by DOB though. Guess someone is bad at math.
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It has to do with Facebook being cross-cultural and not just in North America. In some countries, you are born at age '1' and in other countries you are born at age '0'. The view in several asian countries is that when you get pushed out of your mom, you've been 'alive' for almost a year so they say your '1' year old on that day even though its actually around 9 months.

So if your dating a women from another country who says she's 19 years old, she might not be legal by US Standards when you look at her year of birth as in our culture she'd be only 18. :D. Jailbait, yet not Jailbait.
 
The issue isn't whether or not the information is useful to the government or not or whether they can get it from other sources. The issue is whether or not they have the right to ask you for it. According to the Constitution they do not.

That being said...it's not like Washington as a whole has thought much about the Constitution in a while except for a semi-conservative Supreme Court (which is likely where this health care nonsense is going to end up before too long).
 
I just filled out and sent mine last weekend. It's like 10 questions, asking about your age, your DOB, your ethnicity and do you live at your residence all the time or do you have military/college housing. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the household.

Your credit card info probably is more thorough.
 
jfreund said:
According to the 5th Amendment, they should not be required to give information that could incriminate them, so they have a Constitutional argument in support of not answering census questions. Interestingly, it is a defense that a U.S. citizen does not have.
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I'm confused as to how a non-citizen can use the Constitution as a means to remain in the country illegally.

Anyway, props to CNET for totally bullshitting in that story and linking to an article discussing legal immigrants in the context of illegals.
 
My girlfriend and I just completed our household census. We're both inuits who spend half of the year away from our domicile serving prison terms, so were glad to see that demographic was represented.
 
Seeing that the govt will just put all the info on some easily accessible public database for anyone to find out who you are, where you live, who your relatives are.... I'll pass. Not that most of that information isn't already out there, the census will in some form give them permission to make it easier to retrieve. Just look at the fundrace crap. Political contributions you make will make ALL information about you (address, employer, etc.) freely available to anyone who wants to look. They'll do that same thing with the census I'm sure.
 
kirbyrj said:
The issue isn't whether or not the information is useful to the government or not or whether they can get it from other sources. The issue is whether or not they have the right to ask you for it. According to the Constitution they do not.

That being said...it's not like Washington as a whole has thought much about the Constitution in a while except for a semi-conservative Supreme Court (which is likely where this health care nonsense is going to end up before too long).
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According to the Constitution? The decennial census was not included in the Constitution until 1790; 3 years after the creation of the “original” Constitution. Several congresses and courts since that time have firmly stated that the census CAN include statistical information—which include race, demographics, etc. Furthermore, your line of argument would null and void 27 amendments added after the “original” Constitution was ratified; including, but not limited to, The Bill of Rights. So, think long and hard about who is standing on which slippery slope.

I can’t help but get the feeling you either think you are a constitutionalist or have been brain washed by media propaganda. Whichever is the case, you should probably spend more time reading and learning (or relearning as it were) about US history and not the interpretation of US revisionist-history as narrated by so-and-so.

As for the 2010 census, if not for the laughter provided by all the hysterics and conspiracy theorist I would be sad that after 200 years we mock our one honest way for equal representation. As other’s have stated, so long as you’re a registered US citizen with a Social Security number and a Driver’s License then “Big Brother” already has all your information and more.
 
ViperGrendal said:
Seeing that the govt will just put all the info on some easily accessible public database for anyone to find out who you are, where you live, who your relatives are.... I'll pass. Not that most of that information isn't already out there, the census will in some form give them permission to make it easier to retrieve. Just look at the fundrace crap. Political contributions you make will make ALL information about you (address, employer, etc.) freely available to anyone who wants to look. They'll do that same thing with the census I'm sure.
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This is patently false. A 72-year privacy law, part of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, prohibits the census from being publically viewable until April 1, 2082. It has been this way since the 1930's.

Really, do most of you just take everything you hear off the tube at face value? Or are you just making it up as you go?
 
Just filled out by census not 5 minutes ago. They can't figure out this shit from my tax returns in any way? What a fucking waste of tax dollars having a whole bureau exist just to count how many people of a particular race/color/hispanic origin there are in the country. Surely this can be done through other means that are a lot cheaper than sending out mailings "You will get a survey soon!" in addition to the actual survey and a follow up threatening mailing.

Gotta keep the USPS in business I guess.
 
The purpose of the census is to provide a count (enumeration) of the number of citizens living in any given region for the purpose of allocating congressional seats. That is ALL it was intended to do. I provided information required to meet that purpose, and so upheld my duties as a US citizen.

All the other information they wanted, primarily for their socialist programs and other "entitlements", is BS and I'm not going to give it to them. If they want to dig it out from other sources, that's their business, but *I* am not going to do that for them.
 
dot_Zen said:
This is patently false. A 72-year privacy law, part of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, prohibits the census from being publically viewable until April 1, 2082. It has been this way since the 1930's.

Really, do most of you just take everything you hear off the tube at face value? Or are you just making it up as you go?
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Just speaking from personal experience and that I have absolutely no faith in the Fed to keep anything private. Laws can be amended....

I watch very little TV "news" these days. It's all pretty much crap. Thanks for the info on the on the current law though. :)
 
ViperGrendal said:
Just speaking from personal experience and that I have absolutely no faith in the Fed to keep anything private. Laws can be amended....
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Those concerned about how seriously the Census Bureau takes their confidentiality should read this article; in 1980, the FBI showed up - with warrants - and got turned away with nothing. On the other hand, this article discusses when the Census has been forced in wartime (WWII and post-9/11) to give information by acts of Congress.

Bgrngod said:
Just filled out by census not 5 minutes ago. They can't figure out this shit from my tax returns in any way?
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The Internal Revenue Service is not a suitable source for this information. For one, it did not exist until the 20th century. The transition from the post-colonial tax system to the IRS is an interesting story that includes the Civil War.

The Census Bureau needs to be its own for both of the reasons above and many more.
 
Sabrewulf165 said:
Oh god I told the government that I'm a white male!!!! What if someone else finds out?????

What a joke. Most people put more information on their goddamn facebook pages.
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A persons mortgage broker knows more about them than the Government. Most identity theft crimes originate from real estate applications. People feel more comfortable applying for a home than filling out a census saying that your are indeed an American.

The Fear of "What If" controls too many people in this country.
 
Its 10 fucking questions people, jesus.

I swear the right-wing lunacy on this forum has gotten out of fucking control in the last year.
 
OregonLAN said:
I only filled out the information I figured they needed to know. If the rest of the information is imperative, they can send someone out to retrieve it. Good luck with my cooperation.
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i personally enjoy paying tax dollars for some dipshit to knock on your door and ask you questions you didnt answer
 
dot_Zen said:
As for the 2010 census, if not for the laughter provided by all the hysterics and conspiracy theorist I would be sad that after 200 years we mock our one honest way for equal representation. As other’s have stated, so long as you’re a registered US citizen with a Social Security number and a Driver’s License then “Big Brother” already has all your information and more.
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This is really all that needs be said.
 
WBurchnall said:
It has to do with Facebook being cross-cultural and not just in North America. In some countries, you are born at age '1' and in other countries you are born at age '0'. The view in several asian countries is that when you get pushed out of your mom, you've been 'alive' for almost a year so they say your '1' year old on that day even though its actually around 9 months.

So if your dating a women from another country who says she's 19 years old, she might not be legal by US Standards when you look at her year of birth as in our culture she'd be only 18. :D. Jailbait, yet not Jailbait.
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That had nothing to do with FB, it was on the census form.
 
Sor far you have a greater chance of identity theft etc from submitting a passport application, applying for VA benefits, etc. Has the Census Dept., other then when required by law, lost data or been hacked?
 
Sabrewulf165 said:
Oh god I told the government that I'm a white male!!!! What if someone else finds out?????

What a joke. Most people put more information on their goddamn facebook pages.
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So, right on the money!!!

they yell, OMGs privacy, privacy , privacy, privacy!! then bare all on facebook?!?!?
 
ta_erog said:
So, right on the money!!!

they yell, OMGs privacy, privacy , privacy, privacy!! then bare all on facebook?!?!?
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Didn't you know? Mentioning your a white male is the worst thing you could do. The evil black Nazi Socialist President is going to put you in the white male internment camp.

You will be flogged and beaten and maybe even water boarded. But hey it's not torture so no worries.

The Patriot Act goes through and right-wing nutso's all cheer.

But if the government sends you a form with 10 generic questions on it, that legally can't be used against you whatsoever the right-wing starts freaking out.

Ya, that makes total sense.
 
xveganx said:
Its 10 fucking questions people, jesus.

I swear the right-wing lunacy on this forum has gotten out of fucking control in the last year.
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+1. It's not just on this forum....the internet seems to be spreading fud at breakneck speed these days. That's what happens when you give a voice to every idiot with an internet connection.
 
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