Did anyone else receive one of these? According to their web site, US Code Title 13, sections Section 141 and Section 193 your response is required by law.
In reality, those sections outline that The Secretary (who is presumably defined elsewhere) can take surveys as a part of their census process. It is Section 221 that requires you to respond:
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…
That’s just a crock.
Oh, sure, census information is useful and all that. It’s just the principal of it. I guess I’ll have to ask the nice lady who came to my door for some evidence that she is an authorized officer or employee of the Deparment of Commerce, or a bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of The Secretary.
Heck, I’d pay the $100 if it weren’t for Title 18, Section 3571 (allegedly Section 3559 as well, but that seems to deal with imprisonment and not monetary fines). With it on the books, the “not greater than $100” fine becomes “not greater than $5000” fine. That really blows.
Comments
718 responses to “American Community Survey”
worried,
Your gut instinct was the correct. So now what? You have the right to not participate any further. Even when people return the form, the CB will call to verify the info and to see if additional info can be obtained. The ACS is a screening survey for other surveys. You can tell the CB that you will be giving no additional info or you can not answer the phone. Either way, the CB will stop bothering you eventually. This survey is not as legal as the CB would like the public to think.
We received the ACS survey about a month ago. We are trusting (dumb?) Canadians & have never been a part of anything like this before. I initially had the gut instinct to not fill the darn thing out but my husband said that it’s illegal to not do so. So we did. Now we are getting bombarded with daily phone calls even though we filled it out. I just don’t understand why?? I am very concerned about the information we just gave up willingly…. What rights do we have now?
I keep reading about everyone receiving these surveys in the mail first. I never received anything, I just had the census woman show up at my door. Don’t they have to mail the survey first?
Kristi,
Each phase takes about 30 days for a total of 90. You will be done with the last phase at the end of the month. By Feb 1st, all contact should stop.
I had a surprise visit from field rep a few days ago. I did not know who she was so I answered the door. When she explained who she was I told her I did not have time to answer questions. She has since called me. I don’t feel comfortable answering private questions. How long will they continue to harassas you?
Well I just got my first phone call , They left a message and told me to call a # and reference a case # I guess the games have begun
Outraged in Ohio,
Hang in there, you’re almost done. You will not be fined; no one has been fined. The ACS came about through some congressional subcommittee meetings which oversees the CB. Because of the outrage generated by the longform for the 2000 census, the CB decided to have a more sneeky way to collect the same info without effecting the population count. Don’t expect much from your rep. either, since most see the benefits of being able to pander to their constituents by having the info from the ACS. Don’t be surprized if you get a second CB visiter. I had 2 working on me and figured that the second one was the refusal specialist.
These creeps are stalking me. First two surveys and then five phone calls, all from different area codes. Now, knocks at the door. I almost screwed up by answering the door in error, thinking it was my older brother. He placed the literature in my door. It lied and said my address was chosen randomly, but if it was so random, how did they get my phone number? I have made up my mind not to talk to them, come what may. I am acting like a criminal, watching out for these creeps, hoping I won’t be accosted when I walk out of my house, to go to my car. I hope I don’t have to pay the fine, but how will they levy it against me if they don’t talk to me? If I don’t directly tell them I’m not going to answer it, technically they can’t claim I have refused. Does anyone know which legislator(s) drew up this “law” and when was it put into effect?
I’ve read some literature recently which quoted results from the survey about illegal aliens. There are many around where I live, so maybe that has some bearing on where they pick their targets? I contacted my rep. office and complained and the receptionist said a personal reply would be forthcoming but after four weeks, I’m losing faith….
It is heartening to read others’ comments of refusal. Maybe our democracy isn’t dead yet? They have no right to any of this information and who can guarantee some company won’t use it illegitimately? I don’t trust the government and dossiers is right to the point, as a previous poster noted. This is actually frightening to think our government is trying to do this.
Send a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Commerce Secretary, asking in accordance with which constitutional and statutory provision authorizes this survey. Then read Title 13 U.S.C. §225 (b), (c), and (d). These deal with imprisonment provisions that do not apply, and religious denomination or church which prohibits the disclosure of information relative to membership . . . to furnish such information shall not be an offense under this chapter.
Good luck Rich. But because you answered at all, they have you now. They will not settle for partial answers without trying to get them all. If they did I think most people would answer just a few questions.
Be firm. Remember they work for you.