Census Privacy Concerns. by Fremdfirma

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Census Privacy Concerns.

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:01
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Thursday, March 11, 2010 7:06 AM

Folks act like it's some kinda paranoia to be reluctant to provide info beyond a headcount to the census, but someone else pulled up a couple good reasons for suspicion.

Census Data Not So Confidential After All
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2744

"The most recent examples occurred in 2002 and 2003, when the Census Bureau turned over information it had collected about Arab-Americans to Homeland Security.

Data from the 1940 Census was used to intern Japanese, Italian, and German Americans following the U.S.’s entry into the war, and to monitor and persecute others who escaped internment. In addition to providing geographic information to the War Department, the Census Bureau released the name, address, age, sex, citizenship status and occupation of Japanese Americans in the Washington, D.C., area to the Treasury Department in response to an unspecified threat against President Franklin Roosevelt in 1943.

There may well be other instances of such data sharing of which we remain unaware, as the full scope of the personal information released during World War II has only recently been brought to light.

Thus, while the Census Bureau assures us that “your confidentiality is protected. Title 13 requires the Census Bureau to keep all information about you and all other respondents strictly confidential,” these exceptions negate such assurances. Of course, the release of the “strictly confidential” data was also perfectly legal: during World War II, under the terms of the Second War Powers Act, and more recently, under the terms of the USA PATRIOT Act, now extended by the Obama administration.

In preparation for this year’s census, 140,000 workers were hired to collect GPS readings for every front door in the nation. Such pinpoint precision will certainly simplify the process of locating any individual or group that may be identified as a threat to “national security” in the future. Remember, for example, the 1976 Senate Report in which 26,000 Americans were slated for roundup by the FBI in the event of a national emergency at the height of the Cold War. Now that the U.S. Government’s Terrorist Watchlist has exceeded one million, the GPS data acquired could be instrumental in accomplishing such a roundup."

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Does anyone here NOT think the powers that be are also cross-filing this info with the various databases used by the alphabet soup goons ?

Wasn't gonna mention this, except yesterday I watched a pair of census workers get CHASED DOWN THE STREET in Dearborn by a pack of local kids, and given how "confidential" that data was in 2002/2003 for no reason beyond their ethnicity...

I was sore tempted to trip those two morons as they passed me.

That, and ponder the fact that the Census hires temp workers they do not vet worth a damn, many of whom are doin it not just for the money, but because they can grep a copy of the data themselves for use in social engineering and identity/credit theft later, something you REALLY should consider when these rogues show up at your doorstep, cause the job is tailor made for it, almost.

Site three has put it plain, they've given a list of units and official headcount, and that's ALL they're legally obligated to give, as well as a warning to stay off the property - so I can damn well boot them off, they get one verbal warning, and if they do not comply, we set the local Sheriffs dept (rather than local PD, since the Sheriff tops ANY other authority within his jurisdiction) on them and they WILL spend a couple hours cooling their heels in the fishtank.

I don't think it's paranoia when one has very legitimate concerns about handing ones personal info over to an unvetted temp agency employee with no supervision - and for damned sure it's not when the folks collecting that info did indeed almost immediately misuse it in a fashion they promised not to last time they collected it.

-Frem

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Thursday, March 11, 2010 7:24 AM

MINCINGBEAST

I don't thinky you're paranoid at all, just maybe a wee bit aggro. I recognize the utility of a census, but object out of hand to providing the government with information through the proxy of a sleazy temp worker. that, and the adds for the census have been enough to gag a maggot. "let's talk story!" sure, let's talk taxes, identity theft, and data mining.

my solution: passive aggression. perhaps i'll draw stick figures all over my form, or claim that I have 1,000 arab room mates from yemen.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010 7:51 AM

FREMDFIRMA

On that note, you COULD engage in "nuttery" of various calibre, since they are obligated to record your answers exactly as you give them, which can lead to all manner of hilarity.

Catching me just after breakfast in a *good* mood is likely to result in being subject to being psychologically screwed with rather than forcibly ejected... lets just say forcibly ejected is much, MUCH more merciful.

The one roomie me and the ex ever had ended up headed for the hills with a mental breakdown in progress, and witnessing a half-hour "conversation" between me and Puppy the species-dysphoric cat, entirely in miaow, was only the start.

ProTip: If I invite you in for tea with a big, friendly smile... RUN!

-F

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Thursday, March 11, 2010 7:56 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Re: Cat Convo

Something like this, but much longer, more detailed, and between human/cat rather than cat/cat.

And yes, this actually happens, for whatever reason doing laundry provokes Puppy to verbosity, and so the entire event is usually accompanied by verbal back and forth, and yes, we DO understand each other.

-F

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Thursday, March 11, 2010 8:07 AM

MINCINGBEAST

lol, i support your efforts to make the census as awkward as possible on all parties involved.

i don't imagine its too hard to understand a cat, either. mine has three modes: eat, sleep, and malevolent frolic.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:01 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Oh, that's priceless...I love it!

Cats are such a mystery to me; dogs, I get, but cats, they mystify me.

"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10

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