Its time for the census again. Some people complain its an invasion of privacy. Is it really? Why is it so important to census people so much that they are fined and or jailed if they don’t cooperate?
Because the Constitution requires it. As for why the Constitution requires it, the primary reason is to know how many Representatives each state gets in the House.
The Census is a LOT more than just how many people live in Vincennes, Indiana or Montclair, NJ. It collects data on EVERYTHING: age, ethnicity, language, housing properties, income, crime, etc., you name it. The census will tell you how many gas pumps there are in Norman, Oklahoma or how many movie screens in Columbus, Ohio or the number of foreclosures last year in Orangeburg, SC, or how much crime is in a 5 block area of Albuquerque how many Asians over 70 and same-sex homeowning couples under 30 there are in any city how many pounds of cotton were grown in Lubbock, Texas last year {and how many were grown the year before that}, what cities are growing and which are decreasing.
It’s used to determine more than just representation but funding, needs for law enforcement, utilities rights, zoning of all sorts, , what problems are in need of addressing and what is changing the most about the American population. Congress will order reports for all manner of committees- most of which you’ve never heard of but some of which are vital- and the Census shares its information (with absolutely nothing that can be used to identify an invididual [for 72 years- in other words the 1930 Census is the last Decennial in which you can see the actual names]) with all manner of other Federal, state, county, municipal and other agencies.
It’s basically the Bible of what America looks like.
Keep in mind that 2010 is only the Decennial Census; the Census itself is going on every working day of every year, especially since the advent of the modern computer*. The 10 year is just “the big un”.
This is the very very short answer incidentally; will elaborate later if needed but I’m sure others will beat me to it. Let’s just say that without the Census the government would have no clue whatever about the people- and while that’s the perfect set up, they really do need to know most of what’s compiled. (Things that aren’t compiled incidentally: political party membership, religion, sexual orientation [unless you choose to identify as same-sex householders], and other info that is not considered pertinent to government.) It is in fact a form of representation in and of itself.
*Trivia: Many technological historians consider the Census to be the father of the computer based on Herman Hollerith’s 1890 tabulator designed specifically to speed up the calculation of the Census. He was awarded $100,000 by the Census Bureau for designing the device, money he used to found a company to build other Industrial Business Machines (IBM).
Here’s a PDF of the 2010 Census form.
It ain’t much. For each person in the household, it asks their name, sex, age/date of birth, race, ethnicity (Hispanic or not, and country of origin), relationship to the person filling out the form, and whether there’s somewhere else they might be counted.
That’s it. That’s the huge invasion of privacy.
But while the Census Bureau only does a population census (i.e. trying to count everybody) in years ending in zero, Sampiro is right that the Census Bureau isn’t exactly doing nothing the rest of the time. They’re continuously fielding other surveys which gather data from a sample of the population, to get estimates of the state of the entire population.
The biggest of these is the American Community Survey, which replaced the old Census Long Form, sampling about 3 million Americans each year, collecting the same data the Long Form used to collect, only on a rolling basis, rather than just once every decade. But the Census Bureau also conducts many much smaller demographic and economic surveys, many of which are done on a contract basis for other government agencies. For instance, the Current Population Survey, which is responsible for the monthly unemployment statistics among other things, is done under the aegis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is the website you’d go to if you wanted to find the statistics produced by that survey.
The decennial Census and the American Community Survey are the only ones that you’re technically required by law to respond to. But the fine for not doing so, IIRC, is only $100, and the Census Bureau hasn’t attempted to levy that fine in many decades.
They actually ask less on this one than they did on many of the past ones (including the 1850-1860 forms [which included special Slave Schedules for slaveowners], 1890 [which asked for regimental information of all Civil War veterans], and 1930 [which asked about radio ownership among other things].
It’s interesting how the document changes and reflects the times. For example in early censuses the race question was simple: B, W, M, I- Black, White, Mulatto, Indian- with anybody who wasn’t one of these kind of lumped in somehow. (Chang & Eng Bunker, both born in Siam of Chinese ancestry, were listed as White as were their biracial children, yet their biracial slaves were recorded as Mulatto.) By 1870 they added Chi for Chinese and Mex for Mexican and a generic Col meaning Colored of some sort, but by 1930 they were specific as all hell: I’ve seen Fil(ipino), It(alian), Jap(anese), Bra(zilian), Pol(ish) and other abbreviations all listed as race (again- not nationality but race; nationality really was only asked in the birthplace/mother’s birthplace/father’s birthplace questions).
I don’t think so, but then, I’ve been a Census employee so maybe I’m biased.
Now, there WAS big deal made of the fact that the Census is using GPS now for its mapping purposes and there’s all sorts of nut-case paranoia over that. However, having seen and used the maps in question (as part of my job was to walk the ground and update/correct them in some cases) there is nothing there you couldn’t find on MapQuest or Google Maps - actually quite a bit less than either of those. Anyone hiding out in the woods under the delusion that they can’t be seen and no one can find them is exactly that: deluded.
Actually, for the rank and file field worker we pretty much don’t care a whole lot if you decide not to speak with us. We actually have orders to not pursue difficult people but to refer them to someone else presumably trained to handle these things. I doubt the Census has actually imposed fines or jail sentences except in the most egregious cases - it’s not worth the time and trouble. Those are the maximum penalities, the Census might well decide to simply not pursue a hostile party, depending on the requirement of what is being done.
That said - for Census employees the penalities for divulging any information found while performing Census duties are MUCH more significant than for “civilians” who aren’t cooperative.
Some people are convinced it is an invasion of privacy. More than that, they think it’s a conspiracy. For example, I found this at another message board:
(The OP, to which this is a response, said that a census worker came to his house and was entering coordinates into a GPS unit.)
It’s strange that these people who shout everything they disagree with is unconstitutional, object to something that is clearly stated in the first Article of the Constitution.
I am going to answer Question #1, and leave the others blank.
It’s true that earlier this year Census workers were entering GPS coordinates into handheld computers while working in the field. Again, having done that work, I can state that there is nothing on those Census maps that isn’t already available on MapQuest, Google, and the like! The notion that simply not filling out the Census form or preventing the field worker from doing his or her job is going to keep you hidden is stupid. In fact, it’s going to call MORE attention to those people than if they had cooperated! There’s absolutely nothing preventing the government from locating people via GPS because there are these things called “satellites” orbiting the earth and taking pictures.
And did anyone ask him how GPS is supposed to tell the government if the homeowner has guns? 
I mean,I assume that prior to now they weren’t worried about people with clipboards figuring out where they live so it can’t be just marking down locations given they’ve done that all along, so how is GPS an aid in locating guns?
Regardless of what you may read or hear, the U.S. Census Bureau has not attempted to fine ANYONE in more than 50 years. Not a person. The Bureau has no enforcement powers at all. It is not clear which agency would actually levy a fine, and no census employee has the power to recommend a fine. There IS a law on the books allowing for a fine, don’t get me wrong, but it has never been used. The threat of a fine for not answering is a bluff, almost a bald faced lie. If pressed they will say, “well, we really don’t want to fine anybody”, but they don’t tell you that they never actually do.
I was a selected for the American Community Survey a few years ago. The ‘new’ long form. So many people raised a fit about the old long form in 2000 that no one will get one in 2010.
But 250,000 households get the ACS each month. You might get one and talk to your neighbor about it and they won’t know what you are talking about. The ACS has a 90 day harrassment cycle. 30 days of mailings, 30 days of phone contact, 30days where you may be confronted by a field representative. The whole thing really pissed me off. Pages of questions about every aspect of your personal life.
You should get your turn sometime during the next 10 years. The goal of the ACS is to cover each household with the long form questions at least one time in between the 10 year census. You are going to love it when you get your’s.
If you want to follow current events regarding the 2010 census, this is a good site:
http://www.mytwocensus.com/
If you or someone you know gets the ACS and doesn’t like the questions, these are good sites to look into:
http://txfx.net/2008/01/07/the-american-community-survey/
Just remember they’ll have your GPS coordinates. If they don’t like what you’ve answered they’re free to come and go as they please and spy on your garbage with their black satellites.
It’s a gun board, so everyone naturally assumes that the Bilderbergers want to disarm them.
I just quoted that post as an example of how some people are equating the census with the One World Government conspiracy.
LOL!
Because some people find it easier to believe horseshit than to think. The 2010 Census isn’t asking for information the government doesn’t already have, and it’s not asking for anything as personal as what people are required to give on a tax return, financial aid application or any of a zillion other government forms. But the Census is constitutionally mandated, and by law, it’s not allowed to share information from other government agencies, so every 10 years, we get the questionnaires.
I live with my brother and my fiance (two different people). My fiance and I are getting married about two weeks into 2010, so we’ll be listed as husband and wife, clearly.
What I would think would be fun is if we listed my fiance as person 1, listed me as his “husband/wife” and my brother (his brother-in-law) as his “domestic partner.” That would really be funny.
Then again, we’re not into getting into trouble with the government, so (since there is no brother- or sister-in-law option) we’ll list me as person 1, my husband as 2 and my brother as 3… but the thought would be funny…
The 250,000 people per month part is correct.
But do the arithmetic from there: 250K households per month = 3 million households per year = 30 million households per decade.
There are currently somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 million households in the U.S., so there’s no way the ACS can hit every household in a decade.
Why bother? Like I and others have pointed out, nobody’s been hit with the $100 fine in decades. There really isn’t even any mechanism in place for applying the fine.
The only potential for serious sanctions, as others have also pointed out, is if you’re working for the Census and fail to protect the confidential information we collect. (Yeah, I work for the Census Bureau.) We take that pretty damned seriously. People - and I’m talking longtime employees at Census headquarters in Suitland, not just field reps out in West Bumfuck - get fired for being involved in a data breach.
I’ll second that, although I don’t work at Census. They take privacy very seriously there. I work extensively on a survey that Census conducts for another agency and am constantly amazed at how much is done in the interests of protecting people’s privacy.
Agree mostly, but the constitution only speaks of an “enumeration”. A count. There are 300 people in this town. Not every silly little question about whether or not you own a water-restricting shower head.