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”
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE! NOT….there is no way I will answer the ACS. IGNORE seems to be the best way to handle it. I had a census NAZI come in my back yard on 10/7/07. I was not nice. I sent her packing.
Given the one account I read where the worker charged battery, I’ll just retreat to my home, lock the doors, retrieve my shotgun and wait on the couch.
WE NEED RON PAUL TO GET THIS COUNTRY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!
Ive been being harrassed as well with this so called “American Community Survey” just another pain in the @ss our government seems to be imposing on us more an more year after year. Until people come together and stand up and take our government back it will only get worse. Here is another lie our government is telling us that they have brain washed us with, just do a search on “We the people” and you will realize it all to quickly, some agree some dont…I personally agree with this organization who is taking the fight to capital hill. The government purposely picks on the economically disadvantaged because they are financially unable to put up a fight…..hence the so called 5000 dollar fine with the census. Remember the upteen taxes imposed on us is suppose to deem the government to represent the PEOPLE not the other way around.
Many of the 1,300 some-odd laptops stolen from the government agencies were likely stolen by employees for personal use or to sell the info for personal profit, at our expense. U.S.C. Title 13, Section 9 has not prosecuted one of the “Thieves”.
The “ACS” claims that “Your answers are confidential by law, USC Title 13, Section 9” so please keep the name of the Census Bureau representative, as we are going to sue their pants off, give them a jail term and hefty fine under law of USC Title 13 should your info be lost or stolen.
It has been suggested to me by legal counsel to not respond, and put up with the harassment, or to respond with the # of household members and very vague or “unknown” answers to the rest.
The government wants to create a database on each, and every one of us. They are systematically doing this via the ACS project funded with $146 million budget, (paid by you) per year.
The ACS is being released in a calculated “slow” fashion as to not create a total public revolt, (yet with some fuss); as we have been seeing on Inet blogs. The survey is totally intrusive, and “somehow slid through Congress” without refute for obvious financial gain benefits .
USC Title 13, Section 141,193, and 221 are in reference to the decennial Census, yet this Congress believes us to be totally enamored with our lives. This is the same Congress that slid through the “Patriot Act provisions” which allow eavesdropping on us. Wake up public!
The government has gone too far, and we need to immediately halt this intrusive, foolish behavior!
Once you respond to the ACS, it is just a matter of the Government connecting the dots to hold a complete dossier on you and your family with information you would likewise never give out. All of this under the threat of USC Title 13, Sec. 221.
People are petrified of being fined, and the Census Bureau is playing off the fear. They will be wrong if we all unite against such abuse.
There have been very misinforming statements made regarding the Census Bureau laws. Title 13 of United States Code, (Federal Law) states that a decennial, (10 year) Census will be taken, and failure to respond can result in $100 fine, $500 for false answers. That is NOT $100 and $500 PER QUESTION but PER SURVEY for the max fine.
Most concerning is that the ACS states, “We may combine your survey with data that you may have provided to other federal agencies” i.e the IRS (which will help connect the dots) to help create a complete dossier including your SSN. Once all the dots are connected via the most powerful computers in the world, we are fucked for any future privacy; and it will never go away or be erased because of it’s valuable for personal, business and political gain! We CANNOT agree solely based upon the laptop theft which has already occurred. What about V.A. data loss?
Somehow we must band together to immediately stop this unlawful ingress into our privacy.
I am so glad I found this site. I just recieved the second form today after tossing the first one aside. I attempted to fill the first one out, but when I got to the race questions, 1930’s Germany came to mind. Reviewing the rest of the survey questions, I found it difficult to understand why the govenment needs to know what time I leave for work and how long it takes me to get there, not to mention wanting to know how much and what types of income are earned what my mortgage is and if I have a 2nd. Geez…get outta my pants… Can’t they talk to the IRS? This is REALLY amazing to me to see this kind of thing going on in the Good ol’ Politically Correct USA. Like the state Motto of New Hampshire…”Live Free or Die”
Just in the event you guys weren’t aware of this, but there is another blog going on just the same about the ACS.
I read through pretty much the whole thing.
There are some interesting points, but then again a lot of rambling going on.
The part that I picked up on and posted there was about the loss of computers all the agencies have that contained personal data.
I just received a call from them tonight (8:55pm), and told them I refused to answer any questions due to the negligence of how data is handled.
Held for a supervisor to get the phone.. at this time is was past 9:05pm and I just hung up.
Tired of waiting for him to answer the phone.
Knowing the time, their not allowed to call you after 9pm in your local time zone.
So I guess tomorrow I’ll get harassed all day long by them.
A recent victim of the American Community Survey (ACS), the entire thing makes me uncomfortable. I’ve found some comfort after reading that I’m not the only one who thinks the whole thing is a violation of privacy and a disgrace.
Maybe they should use this American Community Survey on the detainees in Guantanamo. Given the reply’s to this blog it should be rename: American Community Interrogation!
We just got one in our home. I looked up the relevant statues in Title 13 United States Code.
For what it’s worth, the FAQ that accompany the survey say there is a penalty for “not responding.”
But when you look up the actual penalty provisions in Title 13, the penalty is only imposed on “not answering the questions.” I do not read any penalty for “not responding.”
So if you want to be a stickler…. answer the questions on the survey…
but don’t mail it in.
There is no penalty for not mailing it back to them.
There is no penalty for “not responding”
Only for refusing to answer the questions.
So… answer the questions 😉
Jael
I am on my third notice which states I will be contacted if I do not send the survery in. I found this paper on the “Hard to Interview”
http://www.fcsm.gov/committees/ihsng/diffendalasa2000.pdf
It is a little dated but outlines the timetable and methods of interviewing. This document also reveals that the popular government statement that they have 97% compliance is absolutely false. This document cites a 50% mail in compliance rate, and a 10% compliance rate from phone interviews among the original non compliant they have a phone number for. Sorry folks, that don’t add up to 97%.
This has been an extremely nerve wrecking experience! After receiving 2 surveys in the mail, I received pounding demands on my door for the past 3 weeks straight around 7:00pm at night. My case was handed over to a male representative, who has continued to come to my house, banging on the door including Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. Yesterday, my landlord called me telling me that the representative was waiting for them on their driveway. The field representative threatened them saying that if they did not provide my personal information, he would fine them $500. Unfortunately, my landlord gave them my full name, my occupation, and my CELL PHONE number! Today, they called me over 10 times on my cell phone. The representative left a message stating that since he knows that I am the only one living in my house and that I leave my house early in the morning. He also commented that since I am a single household, the survey should only take 17 minutes. Isn’t that the only information that they legally need? He already knows how many people live in my house…why does he keep harassing me? Prior to the involvement with my landlord and the transferring of my case to another man, I told another representatvie that if she kept bothering me, I would call the police. Like many other stories that I have read about, she replied, “Ok…call the police.” Does anyone have any advice for what I should do? I am afraid to BBQ in my front yard and be at home during certain times of day due to my fear of being approached and harassed by these people. Do they ever go away?