The first of February we received a 27-page American Community Survey from the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. Because this is not a census year and none of our friends had received one, we decided to check with the post office to see if this could be some type of mail fraud. Our post office was not aware that a census was being conducted! Because some of the questions on the survey are private and could be used by someone to assume our identity, we decided it would be unwise to respond to the information requested.
About 10 days later, we received a letter from the U.S. Department of Commerce reminding us to fill out the survey either online or the hard copy we received in the mail and send it in. Again we ignored the request. Later, we received a third request through the mail and again we ignored it.
Finally on March 1 of this year, we received a phone call from the Census Bureau requesting us to take this survey over the phone, and first I refused for the same privacy reasons I had before. When I asked her what would happen if I refused, she said they would send someone to our door, and if I did not cooperate, they would turn it over to the Justice Department and I could be penalized, whatever that means.
The bureau does indicate that this information will be confidential, we now know that any information the government has about us is not truly confidential either from federal employees and or especially outside hackers.
Does our government really need to know how many times I have been married or my exact date and place of birth? Outside of the IRS, do other government agencies really need to know all our personal financial information including sources of income and debts?
Does living in a computerized society mean that the story of our lives has to become public property? Can’t we collect information about our society without compromising American values?
Donald Wickman
Bayfield
