US Census

[dgriffin]

U.S. Census Bureau opens in Utica


By PAT BAILEY


UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - It's done once every ten years, and the results could mean more than just finding out how many people live in our area. The U.S. Census Bureau in Utica officially opened Tuesday, and now the process of determining just who lives in the Mohawk Valley will begin.

There could be a lot more on the line once the new census numbers come back for 2010. While required by law, census officials also point out the that these numbers play a role in how much federal money is given to the area and if changes to the congressional districts are needed.

"It is really our civic responsibility to answer the census questionnaire. It helps to ensure we have proper representation in Congress but it also affects the thousands of dollars that are available to communities to apply for for the services that they need that get identified by answering the census questionnaire." said Regional Census Manager Alexandra Barker.


Oh, boy, Oh, boy, oh boy .... can we start a discussion about those information-hungry feds and 1984 and the FF's rolling in their graves and oppression from Washington and all of that stuff?
Huh? Huh?

[clarencebunsen]

Will they be Vegans armed with tasers?
Will they be Vegans armed with tasers making puns about the James Street police sub-station?

[dgriffin]

Maybe they'll have a Census Court to handle the ... felons? ..... misdemeanorites? who fall afoul of the law and refuse to participate. While Stoney is on her way to jail for refusing to buy health insurance, others will be in the dock for
a. having a bad case of laryngitis,
b. delegating their answers to the dog
c. having a front door stuck closed
d. sneering at a Census Bully

[bobbbiez]

I pity the fool who gets my area.

[Ralph]

Gee.....last time we got Fritz B. Fudpucker and Paco Magoo on ours.

No one ever questioned it.

Now, mind you......Fritz and Paco are two of our PARROTS!

[stoney]

Dec 29, 2009 22:26:25 GMT -5 @dgriffin said:

Maybe they'll have a Census Court to handle the ... felons? ..... misdemeanorites? who fall afoul of the law and refuse to participate. While Stoney is on her way to jail for refusing to buy health insurance, others will be in the dock for
a. having a bad case of laryngitis,
b. delegating their answers to the dog
c. having a front door stuck closed
d. sneering at a Census Bully

And Stoney slips the handcuffs off once again... ;D

[stoney]

I don't mind answering the census. What's the problem? They need numbers for districting purposes, number 1.

[bobbbiez]

I don't mind either, but I'm pretty sure I'll be the only person on my street that will open the door for the census taker. ;D

[stoney]

They won't even come to your house if you return a completed form.

[dgriffin]

History

"After the first census, Thomas Jefferson and the American Philosophical Society lobbied for the expansion of reported census information on age, birthplace, and occupation for the purpose of ascertaining "the causes which influence life and health" and "the conditions and vocations of our fellow citizens." Since then, the census became an instituted method of gathering information about American Society.

Nevertheless, as historian Robert C. Davis argues, "the crucial point is that the first act pushed beyond the simple constitutional provision, thereby establishing a precedent for the enormous expansion of the census in the following century." By 1800, the census collected more refined age information; by 1810 the census collected economic information; by 1820 the census collected more detailed occupational information; by 1830 the census collected information on physical disability; and by 1840 the census collected investment and productivity information. Through this expansion, protections were developed to maintain the confidentiality of economic questions, but the population survey was publicly posted unitl 1850 in order to allow individuals to check for errors."


The Census and Privacy

"The risks that accompany the electronic compilation personal information include re-identification, which is the practice of linking individuals identities to anonymous census records; marketing solicitations; and even more serious consequences of political abuse. The use of information to identify individuals rather than for the statistical collection of information offers room for abuses of privacy and confidentiality.

Risks regarding privacy and confidentiality are not new issues for the Census. According to Thomas S. Mayer, privacy interests have evolved from the very first census in 1790. In the history of the American census, these privacy concerns have regulated the confidentiality of released information and the privacy considerations of individuals. Recorded protest in 1870 up until 1960 reflect the constitutional issues resulting from the requirement for US residents to provide sensitive personal information. Questions on the census about diseases, mortgage values, and other items have raised many risks.

The census forms the most inclusive federal database of American citizens. The information it contains is protected under law from disclosure, yet with the advent of technology many of the traditional legislative protection are inadequate. The recent use of computers has dramatically altered the structure of the US census. It has allowed the Census Bureau to retain information in an efficient format, while also challenging the traditional methods of information collection. Along with this growing technology, the potential harm has grown exponentially. Technology has allowed the collection of information to move at remarkable speeds and the protection of such information remains a struggle."

ABOVE FROM:

epic.org/privacy/census/

[dgriffin]

The U.S. Census Bureau's
American Community Survey Interrogation


Defective, dependent, or delinquent...


"After being delayed several years due to budget shortfalls, one of the largest invasions of our privacy is now in full swing, compliments of the U.S. Census Bureau and a cadre of Department of Commerce corporate partners. In the past, the American people only had to put up with this unconstitutional nonsense once every ten years. A time frame frequent enough to be annoying but not frequent enough to evoke formal resistance. With the advent of the misnamed American Community Survey however, circumstance have changed dramatically. U.S. Census bureaucrats have somehow misinterpreted clear constitutional guidance regarding a simple head count once every 10 years for representation purposes as a mandate to invade America's privacy on a recurring monthly basis.

Below you will find a discussion of this unconstitutional program along with links to commentaries, news articles, corporate involvement, and government documentation that highlight this newest invasion of our homes and privacy along with general information regarding the decennial census. "

ABOVE FROM:

www.checkpointusa.org/Census/Census.htm

[dgriffin]

From Wiki:


"Census and privacy

While the census provides a useful way of obtaining statistical information about a population, such information can sometimes lead to abuses, political or otherwise, made possible by the linking of individuals' identities to anonymous census data.[3] This consideration is particularly important when individuals' census responses are made available in microdata form, but even aggregate-level data can result in privacy breaches when dealing with small areas and/or rare subpopulations.

For instance, when reporting data from a large city, it might be appropriate to give the average income for black males aged between 50 and 60. However, doing this for a town that only has two black males in this age group would be a breach of privacy: either of those people, knowing their own income and the reported average, could figure out the other person's income.

It is typical for census data to be processed in a way so as to obscure individual information. Some censuses do this by intentionally introducing small statistical errors to prevent the identification of individuals in marginal populations[1]; others swap variables for similar respondents. Whatever measures have been taken to reduce the privacy risk in census data, new technology in the form of better electronic analysis of data poses increasing challenges to the protection of sensitive individual information."


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census#Census_and_privacy

[dgriffin]

Bachmann co-sponsors bill targeting privacy in the Census


July 13th, 2009 – 4:42 PM by Eric Roper

Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has made national headlines in recent weeks for her criticisms of the U.S. Census, is co-sponsoring legislation which would limit The American Community Survey — a mandatory survey sent to 3 million homes every year — to four questions: name, age, date of response and number of people living in one household.

Bachmann, who is sponsoring the bill along with its author, Texas Republican Tim Poe, previously said that she would not answer all of the questions on the Census, drawing criticism from a group of Republicans on the Census Oversight Subcommittee. “Boycotting the constitutionally-mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country,” wrote Reps. Patrick McHenry, Lynn Westmoreland and John Mica.

In a statement today announcing the legislation, Bachmann wrote that the Census is a necessary tool, especially for determining the number of Representatives per state and directing taxes. “But throughout the years, additional questions of a more personal nature were added so that the federal government could have more detailed information to make and implement its ever-expanding public policy,” Bachmann wrote. “A lot of Americans - myself included, have real concerns about the ultimate protection of our sensitive personal information.”

The bill would eliminate several dozen questions from the ACS, a copy of which can be found here.

It has been referred to the House Judiciary and Oversight committees.


politicalblogs.startribune.com/bigquestionblog/?p=1368

[dgriffin]

Here's Question No. 31 from the American Community Survey, a mandatory annual census to be taken by 3 million households each year.

31. LAST WEEK, could this person have started a job
if offered one, or returned to work if recalled?

Yes, could have gone to work
No, because of own temporary illness
No, because of all other reasons (in school, etc.)


I'd say that pretty far beyond the constitutional provision for a census each decade solely for the purpose of determining the makeup of the House of Representatives.

In a nutshell, quoting and restating from the above article:

"the Census is a necessary tool, especially for determining the number of Representatives per state and directing taxes. “But throughout the years, additional questions of a more personal nature were added so that the federal government could have more detailed information to make and implement its ever-expanding public policy,” Bachmann wrote. “A lot of Americans - myself included, have real concerns about the ultimate protection of our sensitive personal information.”
"

[Ralph]

They get to know who we are and where we live and anything else is BS.