METCALFE on Census

[Anonymous <nobody@neuropa.net>]

From: <MetcalfeReport@bdcimail.com>
Subject: BOB METCALFE: "From the Ether" from InfoWorld.com
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 00:08:35 -0600


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BOB METCALFE: "From the Ether"   InfoWorld.com    March 28, 2000
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ATTENTION INTERNET PRIVACY PARANOIDS: JOIN THE REVOLT AGAINST 
U.S. CENSUS 2000

U.S. CENSUS 2000 is now grossly violating our privacy rights.
And what I want to know is where are the Internet's privacy 
paranoids now that we need them.

The American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org) suffers 
a sanctimonious snit whenever some Internet site asks your ZIP 
code, but it will overlook a gross privacy invasion such as 
Census 2000 when it suits its ideology.

That's par for the ACLU, but where are the rest of you privacy 
paranoids?

Census 2000 came alive for me last week walking up the road to 
our farm in Maine.

A stranger leaned out a car window and asked, "How many live up 
there?" Then he handed me an envelope from the Bureau of the 
Census.

The envelope contained a 40-page booklet of questions, which I'm 
required to answer under U.S. Code Title 13 
(http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/13).

I'm among one in six Americans getting a long form. 

The ACLU actually demands that the feds project my long-form 
answers into statistics for my short-form neighbors 
(http://www.aclu.org/congress/l020899b.html).

I'm not supposed to worry because, "No one other than Census 
Bureau staff can see your form or find out what you tell us -- 
no other government agency, no court of law, NO ONE." Sure.

Were I to answer my 56 questions, plus 33 for each family 
member, I wouldn't want them seen by census employees.

Nor by anyone willing to break into mailboxes. Nor by employees 
of the United States Postal Service. Nor by Clinton-Gore 
operatives in another of those White House file snafus.

Inside my securely sealed envelope would be the names of 
everyone living with me and details including their telephone 
numbers, sex, age, race, marital status, education, ancestry, 
languages, birthplaces, medical conditions, disabilities, 
employment, automobiles, wages, tips, other income, public 
assistance, mortgages, value of their homes, and much more.

The ACLU sued the feds because 56-bit encryption is not 
protection enough for our privacy on the Internet.

Fine, but then why encourage those same feds to gather private 
information through the mail in completely unencrypted paper 
envelopes that are conspicuously marked as census data?

Congressional representation is the first reason to fill out 
census forms.

But the Bureau gives a second, "more important" reason, which is 
that people "who answer the census help their communities obtain 
federal and state funding [of more than $180 billion per year]."

A third reason is a $100 fine for failing to respond. Answer 
falsely, $500.

Now, if the Marxism that's present in the U.S. Census 2000 
doesn't offend, how about the racism?

The long form asks if you are part Spanish, Hispanic, Latino, 
Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, white, 
black, African American, Negro, American Indian, Alaska Native, 
Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, 
Native Hawaiian, Guamanian, Chamorro, Samoan, other Asian, other 
Pacific Islander, or some other race.

Is this "institutional racism" or what?

Why is the ACLU not paranoid about Census 2000 long forms?

Because census data is used to justify growth of government and 
to redistribute the wealth of our nation's people.

This suits the ACLU ideology, which is, to paraphrase Karl Marx, 
take from each by force of law according to his abilities and 
give to each according to his needs and race.

I don't suggest you violate laws by not answering these 
questions. That would be wrong.

But how could they fine me for writing that I'm actually North 
Atlantican? And because scientists say we're all descended from 
a woman in Kenya, I can also check the box for African American.
Privacy paranoids revolt. Start at http://www.census.gov .

Call (800) 471-9424 early and often. If you received a long 
form, be difficult and ask for a short form, or vice versa.

Technology pundit Bob Metcalfe is a 
Norwegian-Norwegian-English-Irish Native African Femian American 
who earned less than $999,999 last year and was not last week 
temporarily absent from http://www.infoworld.com/metcalfe .