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”
Yes it does end. It ends abruptly, usually after the rep increases the frequency of the visits. I had more than one visit in one day. Then it ended and I heard nothing….. no threats, no fines, no additional contacts. Unfortunately, it runs the 90 days, with each phase lasting 30 days. I think that the CB wants to make it appear that it won’t end until the non-responder gives in.
The CB does not want this going to court. It goes to court, it ends. So in the mean time the American public will be subjected to this harassment. The CB wants voluntary cooperation because it feels that the info gained will be more honest and accurate.
I had a second chance to watch the CB rep during the 2010 census. I didn’t answer the additional questions on it and had 3 different reps coming at odd times for 3 months. For all they knew, I was on a very long vacation. I have gotten good at dodging the reps.
Google for John Whitehead or the Rutherford Institute. He has been following the ACS for a while.
It seems that I spend every day dodging the CB – Phone calls, postal mail, personal visits. They make me feel like a criminal, always watching over my shoulder. I can’t even walk in the yard without flinching every time a car goes by. I hope everyone is right that this will soon end (and that there won’t be any after-effects)! Anybody know a good civil rights / constitutional lawyer?
The CB’s favorite reason for doing anything that they do is that they have a history of doing it. They get to ask the questions because every census questionaire contained additional questions. The reps do have to visit to see if the property is occupied, but that is only for the 1/3 of the non-responders chosen to get the visits. If the non-responder lives in a small town or rural, they are more likely to get a visit since the CB has less data from those areas. The CB dinosaurs still define an occupied property as having a land line. Ditch the land line. If that is not possible, then I suggest that the name listed in the phone book not be the same as the occupant, because it looks like the property is owned by one person and rented by another. Property owners are listed at local town/city halls as a matter of public record.
Had to share the latest “excuse” (from CB) – “Since the nationwide survey was not returned, Bureau reps came to see if building has been demolished, vacated, etc.” Appears to be a reason to come on my property. Of course, they could see my house from the street, but I guess they wanted to be sure it wasn’t a carboard facade. Probably rang the doorbell just to see if there was electricity. Now the survey is about “the building” and not the people?
Bill collectors are allowed to call you on the phone, but are not allowed to come to your residence for personal intimidation. Why is the CB afforded this option?
Robert, I feel you wife’s pain. How dare the gov use our money to violate our Constitutional rights with a survey. How dare they threaten us in our own homes to gather private info. How dare they threaten fines for not answering. How dare they collect this info on us. How dare they disturb our lives with phone calls and visits. How dare they lie about the purpose of these surveys. How dare they cause undue stress on the American public by the creation of this extortion ring. How dare they continue to divide us up by category by using race, age, gender and income. How dare they draw district up by these categories. How dare they intrude in any way, shape or form into our lives. How dare they use this data to make our lives worse by micromanaging our economy into the dumper. How dare they!!!!
Got my second phone call yesterday and I did not answere it. Since this started I have never ever seen my wife so upset with the government. I am too! With all the problems we are having in this country for the government to spend so much time and money on something as trivial as this is a crime in its self. I’ll keep yo all up-dated as time goes on.
I have gone through the postcard, first ACS, second postcard, second ACS. I mailed the unanswered survey along with the printout of the 1894 Brimson Supreme Court case.
I got my first call on 9/5/10 (Saturday) from a guy named Jason. He was pleasant sounding. I told him I sent it in unanswered and he gave me the guilty line of community goodness and such. I said no, I ‘m not going to answer anything because I already did the 10 year short census survey. He said I’ll have to turn this over to a field rep and they’re not as nice as I am and are very persistent.
I said, “Do they pack?”, he said, “Oh no, they don’t do that”. I said “Good, because I do, goodbye”.
Just received my ACS, opened & started to fill out. Then I was sure this was not from the Government, I filled out my Census & mailed it the next day. I did my duty. But I am OUTRAGED that the Government wants to know how many times I’ve been married. WHAT THE DUCK??? Thanks to this site I will sleep much better tonight, I have printed my sign for the door & informed my neighbors not to respond to any questions from a CB agent on my behalf. I’ll keep you informed as to any contact or problems. Will read more posts tomorrow. I have my name on the front of our house, I hope they use it, then my cat can vote.
j,
The temp CB workers are gone. The CB uses its permanent workers to conduct the survey follow ups. Shows you where the CB priorities are – the least trained people are used for the enumeration and the most trained are used to invade privacy. Your 90 days should be done at the end of the month. Visits usually increase before the CB rep has to move on to the next group of non-responders.
Hi,
A few days ago I heard on the radio that the gov census jobs are gone. I waited a while then I removed the note for the ACS by the ringer- not to disturb the resident, no pounding on the door. I threw away the note. I didn’t feel nice to leave them that kind of note, but I had to. I won’t leave anymore note. I just won’t answer the door. If I had a bad dream it would normally go away in a couple of days; but this ACS nightmare seems to be here to stay. I wish they’ll disappear for good.