The census bureau select any other Dopers to participate in this?
What an intrusive PITA!
I know the gov’t knows everything about me, but I really resent having to give them all of this private info in one document like this. They are definite about the penalties of noncompliance, tho.
I’ve barely finshed my own info (page 6 or so of 26) and my hand is tired.
Never heard of it. You sure you’re not being set up for an identity theft?
It’s real. Very real. And you can get fined if you don’t fill it out. It’s kind of like a mandatory census.
When I get mine I think I’m gonna go live in a cave or something, cuz it freaks me out. It asks stuff like when you left for work last week. Creepy shit.
~Tasha
Here is a page from the Census Bureau.
It is INCREDIBLY intrusive. 24 pages long. Asks income, ethnicity, house price, house size, fuel bills, time you leave for work, commute time, work address, etc. ad infinitum about every member of your household!
As best I can suss, if you refuse, they begin a process of hassling you with phone calls and personal visits, tho I have not uncovered any instance of anyone actually being fined as yet.
Not sure how I’m going to respond.
I remember being selected for this last go-round; and remember being annoyed; and remember coming up with a plan… I just don’t remember what the plan was. I know I didn’t answer the questions (none of their beeswax!), but I also don’t recall being hounded.
You can be fined for flipping of the census? Really? I did not know that!
Okay, I’ll be the weird one here–I’ve never participated (or been asked to participate) in the Census. Can one volunteer? Is it available online, or is paper form the only way to participate?
I used to be a Census Employee, & yes, you can be fined, and theoretically (sp?) even jailed. But only if you are a total jackass about it. Or combine it with an assault on a Census employee.
False & misleading info on a form can also get this, in theory.
My on-line searching failed to identify any instances in the past 50 years where folks were actually fined for failing to participate. The fines are in the statute - I believe it is $100 for not complying, and $500 for providing inaccurate info.
This survey is supposed to replace the “long-form” census a few lucky folk got every decade, and it is done continually instead of just every decade. I know we effectively have no privacy these days, but it kinda bugs me to be required to put all this info together in a single form, identifiable to me and my family members by name and address. I don’t think I could have filled this out in less than 1/2 hour, and I would have needed to consult my tax returns and utility bills if I wished to be accurate.
My wife and I haven’t been civilly disobedient in some while, so this might be an opportunity to revive old habits! I wrote both my senators. As of now we intend to simply provide our names and send it back, and deal with any subsequent harrassment that comes our way. I guess we just don’t love our country and freedom enough!
I got one of the “long form” census forms in 1990. Almost every question had an interpretation that admitted a technically true, but highly misleading, answer. I presume the same is the case for this version.
Not suggesting anything, just saying…
Dinsdale, my family got it too. It was a PITA.
How about eating his liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti?
I got a phone call that sounds like the same thing. The woman came to my door but I didn’t feel like answering so she scheduled a time to call. For some reason she couldn’t give me a paper copy to fill out. Commute time, utility costs, etc., yep, same deal.
For those of you who got “selected” - are my wife and I the only ones who found this objectionable?
I know, I want to participate too. How come I never get into the census? I’ve lived in the States since 1979, I’m a citizen.