Daniel Freedman is concerned about the American Community Survey, which is a more detailed version of the standard census form. An excerpt:
What's especially problematic about the ACS are the answers it demands from citizens. The least threatening of them are just strange -- such as asking whether your home has a flush toilet and whether "there is a business (such as a store or barber shop) or a medical practice" on your property. Then there are the financial questions. The ACS asks everything from your sources of income (in dollar amounts) to how much you spend on gas, electricity, and water. The IRS just asks what you earn; the Commerce Department wants to know how you spend your money as well.
Even more invasive are the personal questions. The questionnaire asks how many people live with you and their relationship to you, along with their names, ages, gender, and race. Most creepy of all are the questions about your daily routine. The ACS wants to know where you work, what time you leave for work, how you get to work, how long it takes you to get to work, and how many people travel with you.
I'm not sure how big a departure this is from previous census surveys. I seem to recall similar questions about toilets and home businesses although don't remember anything about commuting length. It does raise an interesting question: At what point does a census question become too intrusive?
3 comments:
The same people who get all scrootched up over privacy issues have a breathtaking amount of personal information sewn to the wind via banks, credit cared companies, medical providers, insurance companies, telecommunications companies and the list is endless. Last week I heard about a hi-tech dog collar with a GPS device and transmitter that texts the owner if the animal gets out of his prescribed territory. Local radio and TV host Clark Howard assures listeners that in the aftermath of an accident among the first thing investigators seek is phone records in case talking on the phone was a contributing factor. Busy intersections now have enough cameras and speed-detecting equipment to capture two snapshots of a driver violating traffic laws -- one of the tag, the other of the driver -- and a citation automatically goes to the address of the car owner.
My Social Security file is complete and accurate (thankfully) for the last fifty years. So, too, are my military records, tax records and Lord knows what else from the Sixties when I was in the streets as a civil rights activist. Heard a story last week about a lady who went to buy insurance and the agent said, "How's the new baby?" Her pregnancy and delivery of a newborn were picked up via Twitter! And forget about My Space and Facebook.
Sorry. I don't see any big deal. Orwell didn't have a clue.
John,
I think there is a difference between the local pizza place having my pizza preference on file and the government having similar info. In fact, one of the major ideas behind the Constitution is that governmental intrusions are more dangerous than private ones. In most instances, there are far more remedies in the case of private sector intrusions. Non-governmental bodies also don't approach the power of a political one that has the ultimate power to physically coerce.
Cameras in public? I don't have a problem because one is in public. [As much as I favor the idea of speed cameras though, there may well be a due process problem because the violator may not recall the circumstances and thus may lack sufficient notice to mount a defense.]
Most of the info floating around doesn't bother me. I do wonder, however, where the line should be drawn on governmental queries. For example, should the government - for whatever noble reason in some future census - be able to force me to answer questions about birth control? I don't think so.
I understand.
Some of us got our shorts in a twist about warrantless wiretaps and such but most everyone got over it when revelations of the fine points of torture took the stage.
I hadn't thought about the birth control angle. Makes me wonder how many Medicare beneficiaries are into that... (That's government, you know, along with Tricare and the VA). Probably not many. Their data is more complete on prescriptions for erectile dysfunction.
(Good point about speed cameras. But camers make it tough to defend against running a red light or making an illegal turn.)
We have to agree to disagree about the power of non-government bodies. If the specter of health care inflation hasn't convinced you I doubt I will make any headway in a comments thread.
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