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”
toto,
They have your number because the CB contracts out to to telemarketing companies to find phone numbers which is why I don’t list my number in my name. And yes, there is no law which requires you to read your mail, answer your phone or open your door.
How is it that this is totally random and they have your phone number?
When they called, I have a visitor here, with a nice thick accent and when they called after a couple months of me ignoring the mailings….I had her say…no this is not the address you are calling.
So far they have been here 10 times. I caught her waiting in the car one day and just walked past.
They can not force me to open mail right??? THere is no law that says I have to read what is in my mailbox or attached to my door.
They came last Saturday, 3 times since, but on Saturday I answered the door and she said she was from the census bureau….I said I was taking a nap and to come later and closed the door.
When she finally gets me at the door….I am going to politely say…I have to use the toilet….and will use the same line until they send me registered mail.
I am going to call the number today from a pay phone and say that I am leaving the country for 3 months for vacation and that whatever they are selling…it looks urgent…I would like to hear their sales pitch when I return. I don’t know what your selling lady…but…it looks like you are desperate…and I understand in these economic times it is tough….but it looks like insurance or something…..And sorry lady…I use the internet and if it isn’t Netflix in my mail box it ends up in the garbage….so come back in September and we can talk about what you are selling.
When they finally catch me on the street, I will say that I am just visiting and taking care of the kid in the house….They can’t pin me down….because they don’t know who I am according to their random sampling!
A friend of mine is going though the beginning stages of ignoring these letters and little posted notes they leave on her doorknob. Thank god they don’t have her cellphone number.
They state that the “survey” is authorized by “Title 13 Sections 141, 193 & 221 of the U.S. Code”
After reading the letters and notes they leave I decided to look it up as it seems very odd that they want this info so bad.
My friend’s already very annoyed by this. The letters state that her apartment was selected randomly out of the entire building complex which has at least 80 apartments in total.
What set the alarm off in my head was the fact that her and I happen to be very aware and vocally open of the nwo and how government is rapidly expanding in an unconstitutional way in this country.
Reading a few of these comments above well really made me happy for lack of a better word.
I’m glad people are looking things up and doing the research rather then just doing what they’re told. But sadly most people are still ignorant of the world around them, happy to live in make-believe till their govt comes knocking their door down and throwing you in jail or more likely a F.E.M.A camp for having a legally owned firearm in their home!
To all who have stumbled across this page while wondering what this garbage is that keeps being sent to you I just want to say first and for most that you are not alone in not wanting to give your personal information to some bozo claiming it’s the LAW!
There is power in numbers and as long as we refuse to submit they are powerless, because remember they are only as strong as WE ALLOW them to be. THEY CAN’T THROW US ALL IN JAIL!
It is we the people who have power over OUR government not the other way around. It’s ours lets take it back!
Don’t ever complain about what your government is doing to you, instead ask yourself, why I am ALLOWING MY government to do this to me.
I just show them my poem i wrote. Natural person vs. Corporation. I told them i am not part of their system
Jack asked about the cost of this ‘soviet government bull’.
Well so far the 2010 cost is up to $14.5 Billion dollars. Just for the 10 year count.
This does not include the cost for the ongoing perpetual American Communitty Survey.
I attempted to post a link to the article posted on line today, pu that didn’t go through. Search for my two census.
Well Jack how much money for the 2010 census count is now up to $14.5
BILLION dollars. And that does not include the American Community Survey perpetual count.
The CB GPS vehicle was in our neighborhood a few days ago as well, but it was at dusk. Presumably so that they wouldn’t be spotted. Definitely a bit fishy, as they would sit in front of a house for a few moments, do something and then move on.
My wife went up and talked to them, as it was a bit creepy. But it’s afoot.
Well, the guy showed up on my street this morning with GPS in hand. I spied him talking to my neighbor who was mowing his lawn at the time. Neighbor goes: who are you and what are you doing here? CB goes: oh just from the CB. We do it every 10 years. Not taking head count this time, just getting longitude and latitudes on all the residences. Checking for converted garages and the like. (Prior to that CB had been “helping himself” to property access with most neighbors at work all day.) Neighbor was suspicious but actually too dumb to see through the guy or the entire matter either. Elderly, and trusts too many. Couldn’t hear whole conversation. CB left for “lunch”, so I went over to talk to neighbor. Neighbor clueless about whole CB issue. Filled him in myself. CB says they’re coming back. Just doing preliminary work since last census in 2000 left out lots of houses from the “grid”. Here we go again with that word, “the grid”, as in “smart grid”?? Curiously, CB did not go to all the houses in the neighborhood. Only some. Talk about profiling. I heard they are also putting stickers on mailboxes designating who’s on the “list” as the govt puts it. Red dot stickers=you will be eliminated by the govt for non-compliance. Blue dot stickers=you will be placed in concentration camps for brainwashing. Yellow or pink dot stickers=you are compliant with the socialist/communist agenda and need minimal brainwashing. Anyone hear about this? I went around and checked out the mailboxes. Some indeed do have all these stickers. Very randomly placed. Mostly placed on rural post mailboxes. I haven’t seen one yet on a house mailbox.
Thanks, Cathy.
I will Stand up for my rights. We must stand up for our rights. I cant wait for the actual 2010 Census so I can start all over again with the Census Bureau. It certainly is not easy telling the CB NO. It is very upsetting that these people would actually ask these intrusive questions. What a hassle it must be to keep files on all 300,000 US citizens. They must have really Big plans for our country. BUSH or OBAMA it doesn’t seem to matter, BIG BROTHER is here and here to stay. Just cause your’e paranoid doesn’t mean the’re not after you.
Steve
How much of our TAX money is going to this soviet government bull?
Sorry, Steve. It looks looks the CB has stepped the pressure on non-responders and you just got lucky. Hang in there, it will end and you won’t be fined or jailed. The CB reps can be quite annoying and their tactics are nothing short of extortion. It has been more than 18 mos since my CB contact ended and have heard nothing more from them. The CB wasn’t able to leave a message for me because I disconnected my answering machine and left only the caller ID on.
There is no law which requires you to read your mail, answer your phone or open your door.