At 10:57 PM -0500 3/13/00, Matt Elliott wrote:
> > I just received my 'Census 2000' letter today, and on the envelope,
>>printed in big block letters, it reads: YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY
>>LAW.
>
>I got mine today. It took about 3 seconds to fill out the first question.
>The rest were left blank as they have no bearing on the enumeration of the
>population. The next question is will the bother to come hound me for the
>detailed marketing data they want.
But they _need_ the marketing data, as this is what they sell to
corporate America.
I am tempted to list my race as either "Aryan," to make the point, or
"African-American," because I hear we all came from Africa. Or to
tell them that I have never received a classification of my race, and
could they please send a Doctor from the Reichsministry fur den Uber
und Untermenschen Klassification, so that I will not make any mistake
by attempting to pick one of the political lobbies which got their
races Officially Recognized. ("Pacific Islander, excluding Western
Samoa, but including East Argyle Islands," "Chippewa Nation,
Admixture with Nordic Races." and so on).
Or I may just fill out the Web version...and if my session terminates
before the datum is sent (note: correct use of datum, as singular),
not my problem. If they bug me, "But I used the Web version. My
answer is no doubt stored on some disk drive somewhere. No, I cannot
fill it out again, as that might result in a double count. Go check
your disk drives again."
On another note, there has never been a prosecution for failure to
completely fill out the Census form, at least none that has received
any publicity which reached me and those I trust to hear about such
things. Given that the Census data is supposedly not shared with any
other government agency (tell that to the Japanese ancestry persons
in California in 1942), how could they bring a charge without
revealing the form and its answers to other agencies?
--Tim May
--
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Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
