Reject the "American Community Survey" from the US Census Bureau

Why do the news media and politicians ignore this critical privacy issue?

We received a copy of the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey this week addressed to RESIDENT", and informing us that compliance is mandatory, under penalty of law.

The first questions on the form are your name and phone #. By the way, the form says, right there in black & white, that the US Census Bureau will protect our identities, and that employees who infringe on our privacy can be fined up to $250,000. Do you trust the US Census Bureau, its computer system, and all its employees (down to the poll-taker who comes to your home to harass you after non-compliance with the mail-in and telephone queries) to not only keep your personal data safe, but to not share it with other government agencies or individuals who could then use the data against you (i.e., cross indexing your ethnicity against your income and income sources and/or your travel patterns).

I called our so-called Independent Senator, Bernie Sanders, to get his take on it. I got the Census 101 speech by the office lackey. Then she asked my name and address... Of course, this is exactly the problem. All these damned federal employees want to know who I am. I haven't bothered calling Senator Leahy or Congressman Welch just yet... after all, isn't Bernie always spouting off about civil liberties? He's a politician who talks a good game. In fact, I got a follow-up e-mail that read exactly like the phone answerer's script -- Hmmm... Doesn't the fact that they *have* a script for this issue indicate that it *is*, indeed, an issue?!

I wanted to make this an issue. But politicians will not encourage or support a lawbreaker, as the lackey clearly told me. And the mainstream media has ignored the implications for privacy and protection thereof, even though the track record of the US Census Bureau is proven -- our personal data is NOT SAFE.

Do some Google searches on the American Community Survey, and see if you can find one news story about it or complaints regarding the law or noncompliance. Why do the news media ignore the thousands of complaints they receive about this issue? Of course, you get published in a letter to the editor, but you can only respond to news that's been in the paper -- and there's the conundrum. All this talk of privacy and the Internet is sexy. It's not sexy to get into a political story about why our Congressional representatives are allowing the Department of Commerce to aggregate this data for their campaign contributors, to ask uncomfortable questions, to help protect individual freedoms.

Seen any Government laptops around lately? If so, you may have had access to data that correlates income, travel patterns, professional details, workplace, and other personal data to help you not only identify any respondent and their residence, but to also assume their identity!

Forget about the fact that information about American Japanese in WWII and Arab-Americans after 9-11 was given over to government interrogators by Census employees!

I am happy to answer population questions. I want the government to know how many people live here, and even how our complexion is changing, and how Americans becomelow-wage earning slaves of the corporations to which the government will provide access to this data for the purposes of selling us stuff.

But I will never provide my name or personal data -- or that of the people for whom I am responsible -- to a government agency other than the IRS, and I do that against my will as it is, only under threat of imprisonment or of leins on my property, which would be extremely inconveneient for my marriage, fatherhood, and happiness.

Both of these agencies are illegitimate and unconstitutional. The USCB because it cannot mandate participation or truthfulness, and the IRS because we are taxed for services by a federal government who would use our own resources to mandate unconstitutional behavior (such as submitting to questions against our will).