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American Community Survey: "Big Brother at its Worst"
By John W. Whitehead
"This is Big Brother at its worst."
-- Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX)
Over the past several years, I have been barraged with emails from Americans expressing their dismay over the American Community Survey, the latest census form to hit randomly selected households on a continuous basis. Unlike the traditional census, which collects data every ten years and is now underway, the American Community Survey is taken every year at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. And at 28 pages (with an additional 16-page instruction packet), it contains some of the most detailed and intrusive questions ever put forth in a census questionnaire. These concern matters that the government simply has no business knowing, including a person’s job, income, physical and emotional health, family status, place of residence and intimate personal and private habits.
As one frustrated survey recipient, Beth, shared with me:
When we first read through the American Community Survey, we thought it was an ID theft scam. I showed it to a lawyer friend of mine. She had never heard of the survey and warned it could be a scam. She said if she’d received this, she would call her congressman and senator to find out if scams such as this were happening to warn others. So I called Washington DC. They in turn told me to call our senator’s office in my state--which I did. I was referred to the Justice Department, who then referred me to my county representative. When I called my county representative, my call was shifted to a Census Bureau employee placed in their offices to field questions about the survey. The Census Bureau representative told me the survey was not a scam. She could not tell me whether or not to fill it out, but said if we chose not to, there could be hefty fines and jail time associated with not doing so. She was no help at all and was evasive in answering my questions.
As Beth found out, the survey is not voluntary. Answering the questions is not a polite request from the Census Bureau. You are legally obligated to answer. If you refuse, the fines are staggering. For every question not answered, there is a $100 fine. And for every intentionally false response to a question, the fine is $500. Therefore, if a person representing a two-person household refused to fill out any questions or simply answered nonsensically, the total fines could range from upwards of $10,000 and $50,000 for noncompliance.
While the penalties for not answering are outrageous, the questions, as Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has said, are “both ludicrous and insulting.” For example, the survey asks how many persons live in your home, along with their names and detailed information about them such as their relationship to you, marital status, race and their physical, mental and emotional problems, etc. The survey also asks how many bedrooms and bathrooms you have in your house, along with the kind of fuel used to heat your home, the cost of electricity, what type of mortgage you have, the amount of your monthly mortgage payments, property taxes and so on. This questionnaire also requires you to detail how many days you were sick last year, how many automobiles you own, whether you have trouble getting up the stairs and, amazingly, what time you leave for work every morning and how long it takes you to get there. When faced with the prospect that government agents could covertly enter your home and rifle through your personal belongings, do you really want the government knowing exactly when you’re away from home?
As if the survey’s asinine questions and highly detailed inquiries into your financial affairs weren’t bad enough, you’re also expected to violate the privacy of others by supplying the names and addresses of your friends, relatives and employer. And the questionnaire stipulates that you provide such information on the people in your home as their educational levels, how many years of schooling they completed, what languages they speak and when they last worked at a job, among other things.
Americans being ordered by the government to inform and spy on your family and friends? It’s not too far off from the scenario George Orwell envisioned in his futuristic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. “The family,” writes Orwell, “had become in effect an extension of the Thought Police. It was a device by means of which everyone could be surrounded night and day by informers who knew him intimately.”
Granted, some of the questions in the American Community Survey may appear fairly routine. However, the danger rests in not knowing exactly how the government plans to use this vast amount of highly personal information. For instance, if the financial information you provide on the survey does not jive with your tax returns, whether such a discrepancy was intentional or not, could you be flagged for an IRS audit? Given the increasing amount of collusion taking place between government agencies in recent years, I wouldn’t rule it out.
Another concern with this intrusive questionnaire is that it signifies yet another inroad into the establishment of a permanent surveillance state. Everywhere we look these days, we are either being watched, taxed or some bureaucrat is placing another bit of information in our government files. Now with the American Community Survey, the federal bureaucracy is thrusting its expansive tentacles toward us in an attempt to invade every aspect of our lives.
This survey also hints at a dangerous wedding of governmental and corporate interests--a merger that inevitably results in personal data collected on hundreds of millions of Americans being shared with private corporations. Needless to say, with the Obama administration poised to hire an additional one million census workers, data collecting on American citizens will be intensified over the next several years.
Clearly, this is not what the Founders intended. As Article I of the U. S. Constitution makes plain, the census is to be taken every ten years for the sole purpose of congressional redistricting. The Founders envisioned a simple head count of the number of people living in a given area so that numerically equal congressional districts could be maintained. There is no way that the Founders would have authorized the federal government to continuously demand, under penalty of law, such detailed information from the American people.
However, the Founders did not anticipate the massive and meddlesome federal bureaucracy we have today or the daily onslaught of media images and governmental scare tactics designed to keep the modern American distracted and submissive. Sadly, most Americans do not seem to care that their freedoms are being whittled away or they see no point in resistance. Either way, the reaction is the same: they submit to virtually every government demand, including the highly intrusive and patently unconstitutional American Community Survey.
Thankfully, there are still some Americans out there who value freedom and recognize that it is time to stand up and fight back using whatever peaceful, nonviolent means are available to them. As Beth concludes in her email to me:
As an American loyal to my country, we have no choice but to stand against this unethical intrusion into our lives. I have called and written to many people. No response. No one seems to be listening. No one seems to care. I intend to vote for those who do care.
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Comments
They are persistent. On
They are persistent. On January 8th, 2013, 2:20 p.m., a guy from the Census Bureau again dropped by knocking on my door. I wasn't as "cool" with this guy as I was the last one, because I was hoping the harassment was over, and this just "irked" me. I told him to tell them to not come back, but he said he couldn't do anything about that. In otherwords, I should expect another visit. Like the last guy, he asked for my name and I told him no. He asked if I had something to hide and I said no, but my name and my life is none of the Federal government's business. So they will persist, but I will out persist them. I'm glad they have plenty of money to burn on sending people to my door.
On January 12, 2012, I get a letter today from the Census Bureau telling me that recently one of their field representatives had contacted me. Yes I know. He was the second person I told "no" to. The letter further tells me how important the survey is and that it is required by law. They conclude the letter with telling me that a member of their staff will be contacting me in a few days. This people just don't like taking "No I will not give you any information now leave" as an answer. Maybe I should just put it on a tape recorder and when they show up, go out, click play, let it play, turn it off, then go back inside. So maybe I'll let them waste YOUR tax dollars by only answering my door every other time? They've been to my door twice and I've told them "NO" twice. Short of calling the Sheriff's Department or committing a felony, I think just answering the door every other time is a viable option.
It's morning January 18, 2012, and I thought I would add the two paragraph "updates" above. They have not yet made their third visit, as "promised" or "threatened", in their letter received January 12, 2012, but I had been expecting them this week and it is now Friday. So if not today, then perhaps next week.
They are persistent. Today,
They are persistent. Today, January 8th, 2013, 2:20 p.m., a guy from the Census Bureau again dropped by knocking on my door. I wasn't as "cool" with this guy as I was the last one, because I was hoping the harassment was over, and this just "irked" me. I told him to tell them to not come back, but he said he couldn't do anything about that. In otherwords, I should expect another visit. Like the last guy, he asked for my name and I told him no. He asked if I had something to hide and I said no, but my name and my life is none of the Federal government's business. So they will persist, but I will out persist them. I'm glad they have plenty of money to burn on sending people to my door.
The article states: "For
The article states: "For every question not answered, there is a $100 fine. And for every intentionally false response to a question, the fine is $500. Therefore, if a person representing a two-person household refused to fill out any questions or simply answered nonsensically, the total fines could range from upwards of $10,000 and $50,000 for noncompliance."
I believe the above to be incorrect and I sure hope so, since I might be needing the services of the Rutherford Institute if the Census Bureau pursues the matter. (More details later).
Why do I believe it to be error? Let me quote 13 USC Section 221(a) and note if she got that information from the Census Bureau, whom I don't deem reliable or a trustworthy source of legal information, that one can be fined $100 for each and every question refused, one might want to take such with a major grain of salt. For brevity, I will just deal with the issue of refusal and the $100 fine, but the same argument would also apply to giving false information and the attached $500 fine to that as well.
(a) Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided for by subchapters I, II, IV, and V of chapter 5 of this title, applying to himself or to the family to which he belongs or is related, or to the farm or farms of which he or his family is the occupant, shall be fined not more than $100.
When you boil the above down to it's essentials, assuming all other elements are satisfied, is whoever refuses to answer any of the questions shall be fined not more than $100.
Nothing in the statute whatsoever says "for each and every question refused". Nothing.
The first rule of statutory construction is that courts must presume that a legislature says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says.
But let's say the court is also confused by the statute and find it ambiguous. I think the statute is pretty clear. If you refuse to answer any of the questions, the maximum fine they can fine is $100. But for sake of argument, let's assume it isn't clear, i.e. it is ambiguous.
Under the rules of statutory construction & interpretation, I note penal statutes are construed against the drafter, i.e. the government, when there is an ambiguity in the statute under consideration. This statute imposes a fine & it's legislative history is one of a penal statute, so would not this rule of interpretation also apply here as well where the ambiguity would and should be construed against the government in favor of the defendant? If the answer is "Yes", then the maximum fine is again only $100 and not the fearmongering amounts the Census Bureau is alleging.
I am also hearing that no one has ever been prosecuted under this provision, is that true? Is so, how can one say, as a matter of fact and/or as a matter of law, that "one can be fined $100 for each and every question refused", if a court has not ruled on this issue as to whether "whoever refuses to answer any of the questions shall be fined not more than $100" or "can be fined $100 for each and every question refused"?
I mentioned at the start of the post that I might need one day the services of the Rutherford Institute and I would provide more details, well here are the details:
Background: Back on October 30th, I was notified by the Department of Commerce, Census Department, that they were sending me the "American Community Survey". I got it and it is long, intrusive, an invasion of privacy, and it hackled my feathers by saying it is required by law for me to fill out. Since that time, I got the Survey and later a reminder card to fill it out and send it back as required by law. I have not done so still and have no intention of ever filling it out. Later they again send the same long survey and another letter, warning me that someone may have to call or come to my residence.
Well today a census worker did drop by my home twice. First time I wasn't home, so he left some information at my door. The second time I was home and I answered his knock. He was a nice elderly gentleman and showed me his Commerce Department photo ID that they wear around their necks. He advised that if he could just get my name, phone number, number of people in home, and a few other minor details, which I now don't recall, he could close this matter out. I told him that I wouldn't even do that, and I would not cooperate at all. He said well then he'd have to mark it down as "refused", and send it back to Atlanta, then someone else would have to come visit me. I said well let me give you, or rather the Commerce Department, a trespass warning, that if they show up, I'll call the Sheriff's Department seeking to have them arrested for trespass after warning.
I told him nothing personal against him for I know he's just doing his job. He replied that I was actually very nice for some people yell at him when he shows up at their door. I told him I had filled out the 2010 Census form, well at least what was constitutionally required, so if they just checked their records, they had most of what they wanted.
He started to tell me that the law required this information and my cooperation. I said I was aware of the Federal government's assertion, but I also had a problem with the underlying Constitutional authority for said law upon which the assertion was based. I further advised that the Federal government has yet to commence legal proceedings against anyone who did refuse, but if they chose to so in my case, then I would be more than happy to litigate. I also told him there are several national law firms like the Rutherford Institute and perhaps Jay Sekulow, if I recall correctly, who have already stated, that they would represent any person for free, if the government should ever decide to proceed in a case like this on a refusal, since it is in their opinion as well that such is indeed unconstitutional. We shook hands and as we did, I said "God Bless You".
What I found interesting was, after the Census department and this gentlemen both stressing how very important this survey and the data collected was, that when he first came to my door, he advised that if he could just get my name, phone number, number of people in home, and a few other minor details, which I now don't recall, he could close this matter out.
Well now wait a minute? Isn't this lengthy survey data information vitally important or isn't it?
And if not, then why bother coming to my door to get my name, phone number, and just a few minor details? The census department get's most of that basic information every ten years. They could also pick up a phone book or get on the internet and do a address reverse search. Want to confirm and identify the "troublemakers"? Want to stand before those who don't comply and say "Well then we'll have to mark you down as a refusal". Like we are some student being graded getting a failing grade or like some child getting a demerit for misbehaving by an "authority" figure? I guess these bureaucrats in DC want to attempt to perpetuate the myth, and plant in our minds, that they are the master and we are the servants, when it is precisely the other way around. So as I told the nice census worker, put down whatever you want. Mark it down as a "refusal" for I don't care.
write illegibly
When filling out surveyslike this write illegibly, Answer different questions than the one being asked. Answer just as you would if you were being honest. for example: how many people are in your house hold? blue. What color is the sky? 6, the answers are correct, just in the wrong order. Make 'em work for it while you tell your congressmen and women you'll help the opposition if you hear anything more about these surveys. Photo copy before sending it in to show them what your talking about.
Not Happy
After receiving my 2nd "American Community Survey" and now 5 notes taped to my front door from a census rep telling me they want to talk to me, the last one is threatening a $500 fine, do we live in America or what? Nobody in my family knows the personal info that this survey is asking for, yet alone the government, Give me a break!
What possible information does the time i leave for work have anything to do with a census? I filled out the 10 year census last year and that is it. I am one person and that is all they need to know. I have no intention of giving them anything else. Where are my rights and my privacy issues according to my constitution? See you in court!!
ESPN 11
I wish that trial was broadcast. I would love to see a channel for the trials of tax protesters, census paranoiacs, and birthers.
Of course, we won't have public trials because we don't really live in some 1984 style police state. But thanks for watching out for improbable attacks on our freedoms from unbelievable sources. I've just been watching out for the real sources, so I'm glad there's someone worried about the Census Board sending the black helos into our compounds for our children's pineal glands.
I suppose the price of imagined liberty is constant paranoia. Good luck with the aluminum helmet.
Out of Touch
If you think that the collection of personal information by the government doesn't equate to attacks on our freedoms, read The Gift of Fire, by Sarah Baase.
Look at all the abuses of information and technology outlined in that book based on actual court cases and then tell me there is no risk in the federal government having this information concisely in one place and available for use because permission to use is implied because an unsuspecting citizen filled out and returned the survey under the false statements that it is required.
The law clearly states that the Census Bureau can ask these questions. There is even a law that says that they can fine people for not responding. But there is no law that says the survey must be completed and returned.
This whole survey is interesting in light of the Obama Administration's new call for better privacy rights for its citizens. They are suggesting that America take from the EU's laws - laws that assume that all information about a person is private unless permission is expressly requested and given; totally the oppose in the U.S. where lack of privacy is assumed unless the citizen expressly prohibits it. This is one reason why the EU will not share information with the U.S. regarding potential terrorists entering our country - because our privacy laws are not protective enough.
Seriously ESPN 11, get a clue....
Well
First I would like to say that I acknowledge that information collected by the government can be stolen. I admit that. They need to be careful about that. And they are. It is incredibly hard to gain access to Census data at a level where you could do damage and it's even harder, to get that information on a separate machine where you could work with it outside the bounds of a Census office.
Still, this information is incredibly important and much less sensitive than a lot of other information that banks, credit bureaus, and other companies gather about people. Information risk is a fundamental risk of modern society. It requires caution on the part of those using and storing it, but it does not require stagnation.
At issue is not whether there is or is not a risk to this data. It's a question of cost versus benefit. Everything has risk, always has. But I am willing to live with a modicum of risk if it means that my society can save money and time by having the information necessary to make good decisions.
Finally, I think you're a bit irresponsible saying that one is required to respond but not to answer Census questions. What exactly is the difference? The law, linked below, requires that people "answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in
connection with any census or survey" covered under the title of this law. Try some law school before you go stating that the law clearly states this or that.
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/13/7/II/221
Disinformation
I don't need law school - I just need to know how to read.
The actual law that you cited says "(a) Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or uthorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided for by subchapters I, II, IV, and V of chapter 5 of this title, applying to himself or to the family to which he belongs or is related, or to the farm or farms of which he or his family is the occupant, shall be fined not more than $100."
This doesn't mean that a person is required to complete the survey. But it does mean that if they choose not to, the federal government has a legal right to fine them.
Yes, there are risks and there always have been. But there are two things about which you will never convince me: 1. that the federal government can guarantee against the data being breached or more importantly, misused, and 2. that all of the information collected on the survey is actually needed to do all of the analysis they suggest they will do and provide to local planners. I support my position by citing the 2009 data security breach by the Veterans Administration where they failed to properly dispose of the personal information of 76 millions veterans when they switched out hardware, and, they don't need to know how much I pay for electricity or whether or not I feel happy today. And they certainly don't need my name for any reason. The unique ID attached to the survey itself should be sufficient for conducting counts.
I would be more than happy to work with local planners on gathering data they need to plan effectively for better roads and better use of our taxes . I see a local process as much more meaningful since the data collection would be targeted to specific, documented business needs, could be conducted in an anonymous manner, and has additional benefits of putting local people to work.
Unfortunately, this information, along with the extra information gathered as part of the Census itself, will be used to develop new entitlement programs and to foster greater division amongst the people of the U.S. I simply can't support that.
If you don't have a problem with it - feel free to volunteer to answer the almost 100 personal questions in my place.
"Dear Diary........ "
I just had my second American Community Survey house call follow-up today. I have no intention of answering, truthfully or otherwise, questions asked on this "survey". For that, I suspect she will be back ..... to "follow up".
This might as well be a 20 page personal confessional, sans the humility and procedure, between government and you.
There is nothing American about this survey. It is a revealing lil glimpse into this "change" of direction we're heading.
Bold and indiscrete. American government seems in a hurry; affront and acting without regard. Trying to reach a goal in 2yrs rather than 4?
Get Over It
Hi, just wanted to let you know that this survey is important for folks like me who write grant proposals to bring money into your community to serve folks.
I use the information - in aggregate form - meaning no one's info is individually identifiable - to explain the demographics of the area I am proposing to serve.
Quit being so paranoid.
Doesn't make sense
This doesn't make sense...
If you only need the information in aggregate, why do you ask for names?
If you are proposing to serve a particular area, why can't you just conduct a survey in that area?
History has shown time and time again that access to personal information starts innocently and with good intentions, but ends up being used with bad intent.
The detail of this information is invasive and can't be justified. Only a researcher would say all of this information was needed....and then they wouldn't provide their own.
Irrelevant
But this overlooks the point that the information is still somewhere in a form that is far from anonymous, as the names and addresses of respondents and their living partners are collected along with, and very definitely associated with, everything else. That the identities are not there by the time you get part of the material is irrelevant. And that you or anyone else may use some of the information in benign ways is also irrelevant. Neither fact in any way means there is no potential for accidental release or even deliberate abuse of the identifiable information by its custodians. In fact, history shows just the opposite.
The relevant fact is that citizens are being compelled by law to reveal extremely sensitive personal information to a government agency that a)has no constitutional authority to collect it, and b) has a less than stellar history of handling sensitive information. That is certainly grounds for rational concern, and to dismiss rational concern as irrational fear completely misses the problem and contributes nothing to a solution.
concerned
GrantWriter,
I appreciate that you validated this because I just got the survey and it is very long and intrusive and looks like a scam and that's why I started checking on it. I'd never heard of it either and did fill out the short version which seemed very reasonable in 2010. If it is so important then everyone should have to do it and it shouldn't be such a mystery to those that get it and threatening with fines etc. How about a commercial ad or news bulletin to reassure the public that this is coming and not to worry? I still might ask an attorney or gov't rep about this.
How long can I avoid this?
Will they eventually give up and go away???
We also rec'ed the ACS. Got it 2-3 months ago, set it aside and didn't do anything with it. Ran across it again and finally opened it. I was floored by the questions that the Federal Government was "requiring"us to answer or we'd be fined. I rec'ed another copy of it in the mail a few weeks ago and the Census Bureau calls my house, 7 days a week, at least 2 times a day. We do not answer.
I want to know how this random information could possibily have anything to do with a Census?!?!?!? What does what time I leave for work have anything to do with anything?? Why do they need to know how many cars I have?!?!?!? Don't they have access to DMV? Run my address through DMV's systems and you'll find out.
I completed the regulas Census last year. That is all the information they need to know.
I will NOT provide any of this information on the ACS survey to the government. It is NONE of their business.
This is illegal.
According to our rights to privacy, this is illegal and they can not legally fine your or any other thing. I am shocked that the author did not do his research.
The reason there have been no legal action is because it is not legal. If they were taken to court over this they would lose. Have to love the Constitution!
Right to privacy
Where is the right to privacy in the Constitution? The Census is in the Constitution. Constitutional doesn't just mean what you want it to at any given time.
Osi
Thank you plain and simple! I got 1 in the mail and it is truly INVASION OF PRIVACY!!!!!!!!!!! Are they kidding???? No one in their RIGHT mind is going to answer that mess!!!!
WHO SPONSORS THE ACS???
When the ACS survey form arrived in my mail box some years ago, the intrusive questions were astonishing. I was not willing to provide the personal information and decided I needed to research what this was all about and who sponsored (paid for) the survey. Seems, according to info I found, it was, at that time, sponsored by a real estate association, I believe it was the Real Estate Association of America.
I did not complete the form.
Now, the latest has arrived. I will again research if it has the same sponsor, or a different one this year. I don't see how we as citizens can be forced to give such private information to a government agency, much less a real estate conglomeration.
Here we go!
WOW! I guess I’m on the line here. Or I will be, I just got a letter from the U.S Dept of Commerce telling me to expect The American Community Survey in a few days. I did the normal (if you want to call it that) census form. I even filled it out as asked except I didn’t give them my phone number. I was just going to give them a head count at this address, but I gave in and filled it out, but as I said, outside of giving my phone number. If I were asked, I was going to tell them I am on the governments “Don’t call list” and didn’t feel I had to give out my phone number. And as of right now I don’t plan on doing the survey when it comes! Actually it must be junk mail, it came addressed: “TO THE RESIDENT OF”, now that is junk mail right? (The letter came that way, just as the real censes did, so I expect this survey will too.)
Why isn't the News Media picking up on this?
I would like to know why the news media isn't picking up on this. I watched a news article a few days ago, featuring who had panicked because she'd taken 40 minutes to fill out a Census form and then received the short form in the mail. She thought she'd been scammed.
The Census Bureau spokesman (who looked a bit nervous) said it was just a survey they were sending some of the population. The rep neglected to say it is a mandatory form for which one could be jailed or fined. Not to mention the kind of harrassment they subject people to. A month of paperwork and intimidating mail, then phone calls from the Bureau, which often come in on weekends up to 10 p.m. One wonders about this, as those phone calls to my part of the world had to have been made in the middle of the night.
I could not imagine sitting down and taking the time to answer these intrusive questions--or why the woman on the news article did this without even questioning why the government would want to know about her intimate habits and finaces.
Baffling...just truly baffling.
Warm, fuzzy title
Has anyone else noticed that the more warm and fuzzy a Government agency tries to make itself seem, the more dastardly they turn out to be? "American Community Survey" sounds so benign and harmless, as do "Department of Health and Human Services," and "Federal Emergency Management Agency."
Wow
I have heard about this and have no intention of filling it out. As a past Census worker - all we took was was this a single family dwelling (no apartments, trailers or such) and how many people lived in the house . We also (that year) were asking about 911 access. We stressed, if they answered those 3 questions, they would not get another visit and the actual Census was a post card.
Big Brother can attempt to put me in jail or attempt to fine me - but it won't be happening - there are too many people who don't even tell their families the answers to those questions - Much less the Government.
I will - see them in court. Along with at least a few million other Freedom & Privacy loving Americans .
I'm with you
I'll see you in court, Uncle Sam.