It would go a long way to easing people’s minds if they had some way to guarantee that this could not happen again. I realize there is value in gathering attributes beyond just “one person”, but storing these attributes in a way that can be connected to addresses seems seriously problematic.
Would the lack of census data prevented the concentration camps from operating? It may have instead taken longer and required more people, but I would expect that at the time anyone with a Japanese/Chinese look or name to have been detained anyway. Side note: It seems even the 2nd amendment didn’t help citizens resist agains oppression.
I suspect these days the government has enough information already on its citizens through other means (intelligence agencies etc) than the census, to still target based on race if they wanted to.
Immediately after 9-11 the discrimination against Muslim, Arabic and other minorities was rather pronounced. No census data needed to that either. People just judged by visual appearance or name.
What constitutes "abuse"? Differential privacy is hard. Once the data has been collected, simply not being an expert in statistics can be enough to accidentally leak sensitive data. The government is simultaneously the data collector, data user, and prosecutor of abuses, so I'm skeptical that much will come of any such promise. Maybe a letter of apology in 50 years.
> I suspect these days the government has enough information already on its citizens through other means (intelligence agencies etc) than the census, to still target based on race if they wanted to.
Pointing out that ethnic minorities are likely to be screwed anyway in such a situation, even without census data, is not going to ease anyone’s mind.
The problem is "anonymous" data is often really easy to de-anonymize, especially when there's so much unique, identifying information there, as there is with the census.
Even if it did somehow manage to remain anonymous, they could still tell that a person with some undesirable characteristics lived at such and such a location. That would be enough to round people up. They don't necessarily have to know your name.
"However, even if you don't get fined for not filling out the census form, there are some good reasons you should do it anyway. Seats in the House of Representatives seats are apportioned by population, with the most populous states receiving the most seats. Federal and state governments rely on census data to budget for social welfare programs that assist the poor, elderly, disabled and veterans. Cities and private industry use demographic figures to plan new hospitals and housing developments, and to assess the need for new schools or new strip malls. So, not filling out the census form may cost you something in the long run."
On the average each uncounted person loses their district $2,000 per year in federal payments (i.e. tax money returning to the district). Losing $20,000 over the ten years between censuses is a big deal for school and other program funding.
PLEASE BE COUNTED!
This is required by the constitution: Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 - as amended by the 14th Amendment.
Also the census results are applied for a whole decade during which officials can change and many elections will take place.
People in the minority party in solidly red/blue states would want their state to lose votes in order to increase the representation of their party.
March 30, 2020: Counting people who are in shelters.
March 31, 2020: Counting people at soup kitchens and mobile food vans.
April 1, 2020: Counting people in non-sheltered, outdoor locations, such as tent encampments and on the streets.
See this for more information: https://2020census.gov/en/what-is-2020-census/focus/people-e...
That article is wrong, and the fine is absolutely not $5,000. If that article were correct, then there would be no federal fines under $5,000 anywhere. This is misinformation that the census bureau likes to spread around to scare people. In face, the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 applies only to criminal cases.
This means that the fine is actually $100.
I went through this rigmarole when I got one of those off-year census forms during the Obama administration, asking about what my family eats, how many toilets we have, etc. I refused to fill it out. A guy showed up at my door. He showed me the brochure that said it was mandatory, and what the potential fine was. The same $5,000 number was quoted. I told him I would not be participating in this program, and that his brochure was lying because this was not a criminal offense. He agreed it was not a criminal matter. And that was that.
From the example I’m familiar with: the last ever census in Turkey was held in 2007. There on, there is now a live, real-time count of everyone in the country. Why doesn’t that work in the US?
Surely US is capable of it, but I wonder if the blockage is inertial, political or just not enough of a priority.
Turkey has a central database, called TCKN, that everyone is assigned by birth or by getting an immigration visa. The births and deaths are tracked by hospitals and the Revenue Service. Income / education / housing - all of these are tracked by the central registers and licensing boards. Every Turkish citizen and resident has an online account at https://www.turkiye.gov.tr/?lang=en_US (for English version) which you can use to view taxes paid, your previous health records (MRI scans and all should be downloadable) see scripts fillable, paperwork for legal action by you or against you, census records, even mobile and landlines registered on your name, and basically pretty much everything you’d expect a state can do. All of the outputs from this site are printable PDFs and they have a barcode on them which I think the government cryptographic signature. So you can get some doc from here, print it out and bring to someone else and they’d be able to verify it by scanning the barcode.
In other words, they have total knowledge. It’s not just the number of people in the country. What’s interesting is that it doesn’t rely on self-reporting, but on ambient data providers. It’s kind of dystopian, but technically fairly impressive and so far (ominously) relatively benign. Failing all else, it’s very useful.
This is 100% political.
Because the US does not have border controls between states.
Cross-referenced with the subscriber records from wireless, cable, and utility companies, databases from data brokers that are fed by loyalty programs and supermarkets, and every bank or credit card swipe in real-time, they already have 100% of this data in far higher resolution than will ever be collected by the census. They know about your address updates even before you tell the DMV.
I will be ignoring the effort.
Then you do so to the detriment of your state. Regardless of whether or not the government has the information via the means you describe, House and budget apportionment is determined by the census numbers, and not this "shadow data".
So far no one from my family was chosen; since fall of the Eastern bloc there were 2 censuses, in 2002 and 2011
(Can confirm, was Census enumerator. You probably will get an in-person attempt from a very-low-paid enumerator, though.)
Also, I think I heard that these days you have to produce your draft registration number in order to apply, which sucks.
Do they have a quota to hit, like if I take my time with them do they get punished?
https://www.census.gov/acs/www/about/why-we-ask-each-questio...
According to this article, no census failures have been prosecuted since 1970.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/381254-answering-the...
The correct answer in this case is to say "I don't know". You can write in stuff on census forms and it's up to the local office to process those as special cases.
In my case the correct answer was to do nothing, then cooperate with the enumerator on the short form questions, which as I said was fine.
I pitched the thing, but they came to the door several times until I did the short-form.
> Could you not answer because you didn't know, or you didn't want to answer those questions?
Didn't know many. Didn't see how the Census clause authorized the collection of personal and private information they were demanding I turn over accurately under criminal penalty otherwise. Not knowing was sufficient to not be able to respond.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/jan/09/us-census-...
As with voting, it only encourages them. They are passionate about getting you to participate because they want the appearance of legitimacy, so you get obvious fear-and-guilt-prop like this.
Except for your area getting federally undercounted, which loses representation and tax dollars for you and all your neighbors.
