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”
You may be interested to know that included in the $1 Trillion dollar stimulus package now working it’s way toward approval is $1 Billion dollars, (not million), for “follow up” to the 2010 census. (CNN earlier today, 2-3-9)
I take this to mean an expansion of the American Community Survey or similar gathering of information. The 10 year census is already in the budget, and is already projected to exceed that budget by a $3 BILLION dollar over-run.
People have been raising a fit about intrusions on personal security and spying on American citizens under the label of Homeland Security, but everyone seems to just roll over when it’s the Census Bureau. Because that is all harmless, right?
The Census Bureau is gathering an unprecedented data base on every household and person in the United States. And then selling or just giving the information to the corporations and government programs who ask for it.
And the stimulus package that is supposed to jump start our economy and create jobs is being used to further bolster the power of the Census.
I was done with the American Community Survey a year or two ago, but I stayed MAD. Because they will be back. They are a paper tiger that only has the power over you that YOU allow them to have. It just burns me up that one area of government that could clearly be trimmed back is instead going to receive 1% of the total economic package, and keep growing like a cancer.
I would be very interested in seeing a copy of this survey as I never actually received one in the mail. I just went by my instincts when someone showed up at my door.
MY REFUSAL TO COMPLY!
January 29, 2009
I received the American Community Survey about a month ago. This compulsory 28 page document published and administered by the U.S. Census Bureau clearly demonstrates the need to ask the question ” Who is out-of-control in our government?”. Perhaps, more importantly, “Who is in control, outside of our government?” I decided, almost immediately, not to comply. A little investigation confirmed my suspicion. Namely, there are countless others of you out there who share a common concern about this interrogative survey as well as the motives of our government. I say ” our government” because I still keep close to my heart the memory of a government and an America I supported while serving in the Vietnam war. A time when the enemy was perceived as a threat against our great nation and not from within. I received a second ACS just last week with a letter that hinted vague threats. This appears to follow the pattern described by most of you who have already experienced the ordeal. My course of action is best described by the following conviction.
It is the duty of every U.S. Citizen to practice civil disobedience when the government exceeds its authority.
The U.S. Constitution in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 states; “The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years.” This gives the government authority to conduct a census every ten years by enumeration. Any demand placed upon a U.S. Citizen beyond that provision is unconstitutional. A paper history of the U.S. Census records throughout the life of our nation plainly exhibits the simple process of enumeration as the only method permitted to obtain a “head count” and only at an interval of ten years. The ACS far exceeds the intent of the U.S. Constitution for the purpose of congressional redistricting and allocation. The questions are extremely intrusive into our private lives and a blatant attempt to extract vital personal information that cannot be obtained by any other means. Also, it is my view that this campaign endorsed by our legislative body, in part or whole, is being used as a test ground to determine how far the American people will bend and stay pliable under the control of a central government. Summarizing my intent;
1) I will not comply with the demands of a government that has exceeded its authority.
2) I will not pay any fine.
3) I am, bold words but spoken true to my nature, willing to be imprisoned but not subjugated.
In doing so, I will practice civil disobedience for the first time in my life. Given the safeguards written into the U.S. Constitution by our founding fathers and the love of country they entrusted with us, I can do no other.
Mark Gordon
[email protected]
PostScript – I would be more than pleased to provide a PDF copy of the American Community Survey to anyone who is unfamiliar with its contents and intent.
Thanks Cathy, I hope you are right. We do live in a rural location but we have a mailing address. Hopefully I don’t have too much longer to avoid this annoying woman!
Kristi,
You may be in the final phase. Sometimes the CB has to skip a phase. The mail phase is skipped when there is a problem with the residence’s address; when the address is a rural route delivery or there is no mail delivery to the residence. The CB uses landlines for the second phase. If no phone number can be located, then no phone calls. So then the CB rep arrives, totally by surprize. For the first time, small towns and rural areas are being hit for info. The CB appears to be checking these areas to be sure that the residence exists and is occupied.
If each phase lasts 30 days for a total of 90 days then I don’t know what phase I am in. I am reading that the first phase is the mailed survey, the second phase is the telephone calls and the third phase is the home visits.
I seemed to have started at the last phase when a ACS worker showed up at my door last week. She has since left 3 messages and we received another home visit today (which we did not answer the door).
So the question is, did the 90 day phase start last week when she just showed up at the door (I sure hope not), or do I just have until Feb 1st like Cathy mentioned.
Call #2 this morning , Didnt answer, love caller ID still want me to call and refer to a “case number” 10 days between call , one weekday evening today sat morning
Gee its good to see that in this financial crisis the Govt is working overtime
to harass its citizens
I say lay off the Census Bureau and go back to part time one every 10 years as required by the constitution. It would save tons of taxpayer money
cathy,
I agree with you 100%.
Personal privacy rights should be above business’s needs for information on people. I have an unlisted phone number, but it & other info. is on the internet white pages (This is really annoying!) Sometimes, it is alot of
trouble to remove stuff from the internet white pages when it shouldn’t
be there in the first place.
Now people have to sign something from a company saying that they want their info. kept private, otherwise a company can give your info. to everyone in the world. It should be that a person’s information is private, and in order for the company to give it out, they need your permission.
Big businesses (BB) rights seem to overshadow ours. Sadly, government
has forgotten their people by catering to the BB.
live_n_life,
Don’t care what the positives might be. Not answering. Further, I’m tired of the argument that since there is already so much info out there that…gee, what’s a few more questions from the census? Well, because there is already enought info out there, I’m not supplying anymore. I’m not putting things into a tidy package linking my health to my education or to anything else going on in my life. What I pay for bills, when I leave for work and all the other questions are none of anybodies’ business. I’m tired of stakeholders who feel the need to down play the impact of the CB’s invasion of privacy. When do you guys get the fact that WE are not here for you to study? The census questions are personal, offensive and a violation of the Constitution.
I, personally, have not received a survey, or a representative from the Census Bureau at the door.
I have mixed feelings about the whole census thing, but wanted to state one of the positives of the census.
If any of you have worked on your geneology, and have a family member that you wished to find info on, you are able to pull up copies of census info. I have personally discovered family members, their age, children, occupation and address by looking through the handwritten census’ from the early 1900’s.
As far as the census is concerned, you end up giving up less information than when you use a phone (home or mobile), credit card, discount card (at grocery, hardware, and other stores), points cards (for gas stations and other stores), and when you register many of the products that you purchase (especiallly when a rebate is involved, as they have to have the info of where that money went for IRS purposes). Even your employment info is reported atleast quarterly, as is required of businesses. In my state (Ohio) the income each person receives is reported to a database called SETS which helps with Child Support Enforcement.
Although the microchip implant has not been put into effect to identify and store all of your info (personal, financial, credit, purchase, etc.), they have begun utilizing a ring (with microtechnology) that is worn on a finger, and operates on the same premise as the microchip implant.
In many cases people unknowingly give up info way more detailed than the census requests through what seem like benign venues!
I respect everyones opinion re: the census and what info they are comfortable revealing, but you may want to consider some of the census info, and how it may help a relative 100 years down the road to figure out their heritage/family tree, and what type of career/work their ancestors had. Also consider how much of the information that is already recorded via filing taxes, utilizing the discount/point cards, a credit report (which updates your address, job, and credit request every time it is pulled), rebate forms, and registration of products that are purchased (in person and online). Maybe after considering such things, the census may not seem as personal as it does without such considerations!