That alone is enough to make some people nervous. Add to it the questions that will be asked and the satellite technology used, and some may wonder where their privacy has gone.
In the spring of 2009, nearly 1 million new employees of the Census Bureau started training. Their job – to find every structure (very loosely defined) where “a person lives or could live” (Address Canvassing, US Department of Commerce, 2008, emphasis added). Having a total stranger standing in one’s yard who is entering information on a handheld computer with satellite uplink is enough to cause some measure of concern. Fortunately for all, that information is strictly guarded.
Title 13 Protects Your Right to Privacy
Under US Title 13, “All Census Bureau employees have taken an oath and are subject to a jail term, a fine, or both if they disclose ANY information that could identify you or your household. Your answers will only be used for statistical purposes, and no other purpose.” (US Department of Commerce, 2008. Emphasis not added.) That means that all Census Bureau employees are under strict obligation to respect your privacy and protect it – even from members of their own family.
During training, enumerators (those who count living quarters or people) are instructed to lock up all materials that may contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII). In their cars, on their desks, anywhere they may have need to be, that information is not for viewing by anyone except Census personnel who have a need to know.
What Census Information is Available Online?
All PII collected during the census is protected for 72 years. During that time, no information that can identify any individual or family will be available in any form to the public.
Census Information Not Used By Any Other Government Agency
Information gathered by the Census Bureau is for Census use only. It is off limits to other government agencies. That includes INS, police, FBI, and others. This protects the subjects of the census from detection or prosecution due to information contained in the census. No police will come knocking on the door, no immigration officials will be waiting to deport due to census information. They are barred from access or use.
What is the Purpose of the Census?
Census data is used for several purposes. First, the US House of Representatives is arranged by population of each state or territory. The more people in a state, the more Representatives that state has. As of the 2000 census, there were less than 1 million people in the state of Montana. (Census Bureau puts the figure at just over 902,000.) Montana has only two US Representatives. California, on the other hand, had a population of almost 39 million during that same census. They have 53 Representatives. Both counts could change in 2010, giving more or less representation.
School districts, land development, distribution of state and federal monies, local utilities, etc are all determined by demographic data. The most accurate gathering of that data is the decennial census.
In this time of questionable privacy and wondering the purpose behind many things the federal government does, Title 13 should give people in this country reassurance that their privacy is respected and their lives will not be disrupted by the 2010 US Census.
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