-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- Dave Hartley http://www.asheville-computer.com/dave -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2000 1:41 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [LeadingEdgeResearch] Census-Gate 2000 Initial Data Collection I have dubbed this Census controversy "Census-Gate 2000". Maybe it will stick. Here's a summary of some of the latest traffic, news, etc. I have gathered on this up-and-coming issue as of 17 March 2000. VV Table of Contents: 1. Analysis of Census Long Form Documents and OMB Form Data, and Anomalies 2. Don't Trust the Census - by John Gilmore Past Abuse of Census Data Wall Street Journal Article: Honesty May Not Be Your Best Census Policy 8 Aug 1989 3. Matt Drudge Report 15 March 2000 on beginnings of the controversy and New York Times article references. 4. Cooperative Alliance Between the US Census Office and the US Post Office 16 Mar 2000 Census Bureau 5. News: "INS to Lie Low for Census" ABP News 6. Lockheed-Martin Develops Census Capture Technology 7. Barcode Technology Insures Accurate Count 15 Mar 2000 US Census Bureau 8. AP Corrects Story on Census Sampling 9. Census Computer Technology and Systems Processing Information "Although the Constitution empowers Congress to conduct a census for the purpose of apportioning representation, there is nothing there which empowers them to demand answers to any questions they chose to ask. Yet they have taken the position that it would perfectly all right for them to compel you to enumerate what weapons you own or what illicit substances you consume and pretend that this would not be a violation of your constitution rights just because they won't divulge any individual answers. We have already heard proposals to create concentration camps for drug users and to seize all privately owned semi-automatic weapons. There is simply no way to tell how the answers that people supply today might be used against them in the future". June Genis 1. Analysis of Census Documents Indicate OMB Anomalies - ALL Long Forms Are For Puerto Rico ONLY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- Regarding the Census: The long form is NOT required to be filled out AT ALL, at least not by people residing outside PUERTO RICO. Proof: 1. The form number for the long form (at least the one I have which was sent to an address in ALABAMA) is "Form D-2(UL)". The title of the form is "United States Census 2000". 2. The form states at the top: "This is the official form for all the people at this address. It is quick and easy and your answers are protected by law...." Note that this means that if THIS FORM is not valid and the above language is correct, there is NO FORM for conducting the census for the people living at the address contained on the form. 3. At the bottom right of the front page of the long form is written "OMB No. 0607-0856: Approval expires 12/31/2000". 4. On the bottom of page 2 of Form D-2(UL) it states that "The Census Bureau estimates that, for the average household, this form will take about 38 minutes to complete...." That doesn't sound very quick, but then exactly what form or part of the form are they talking about? 5. The next paragraph on Page 2 (a single sentence) is the key: "Respondents are not required to respond to any information collection unless it displays a valid approval number from the Office of Management and Budget." I went to the official OMB site and looked up the OMB number, 0607-0856. The site is: http://www.whitehouse.gov/library/omb/OMBINVC.HTM#Departm ent of Commerce Here is the exact information found on the site for this number: ===== OMB NO: 0607-0856 EXPIRATION DATE: 12/31/2000 RESPS:106,200,000 HOURS:26,761,200 COSTS(000):$0 United States Census 2000 FORMS: D-1 D-1(E) D-1(E)SUPP D-1(HF) D-1(UL) D-1A(UL) D-2 D-2(E) D-2(E)SUPP D-2(HF)\ ================== Note that the Form Name, "United States Census 2000" and the expiration date are the same as on the form D-2(UL). However, as you will note, form D-2(UL) is NOT LISTED. Therefore, OMB No. 0607-0856 is NOT a valid OMB number and no one receiving it with THAT NUMBER on it is required to fill it out. Since, according to page 1, "This is the official form for all the people at this address", there must be NO VALID FORM for anyone who receives the long form, D-2(UL). The next finding is even more amazing. As I was cutting and pasting the above from the OMB site, my eyes glanced down. BELOW the listing for 0607-0856 I found Form D-2(UL) listed under OMB NO: 0607-0858, titled "Census 2000 -- Puerto Rico". However, take a GOOD LOOK at the information for this OMB number: == OMB NO: 0607-0858 EXPIRATION DATE: 12/31/2000 RESPS:1,400,000 HOURS:453,504 COSTS(000):$0 Census 2000 -- Puerto Rico FORMS: D-1(UL)(PR) D-1(UL)(PR)(S) D-1(E)(PR) D-1(E)(PR)(S) D-1(E)SUPP(PR) D-1(HF)(PR) D-1(HF)(PR)(S) D-2(UL)(PR) D-2(UL)(PR)(S)\ ======== This means that the D-2(UL) is AT BEST required for residents of Puerto Rico. I guess that Congress can do what it wants to with respect to Puerto Rico since Puerto Rico is a Federal State "included" as part of the "United States", which Alabama is NOT. Terry W. Stough P.S.: It should take about two minutes to read this e-mail AND complete the only required sections ("Number of people") of the long form. According to OMB estimates, getting this information out to EVERYONE could save people living in the 50 supposedly sovereign states some estimated 25 MILLION HOURS. ----------- [COMMENT: If you got the long form with the OMB number for Puerto Rico, I WOULD NOT fill ANYTHING out as you would be committing a Federal Offense in telling them you were a citizen of Puerto Rico. Give or send them the form and DEMAND the proper form from them for YOU. Also, help expose this by calling their office at 1-800-471-9424 and explaining this email to them. In doing so you might just awaken the masses as to the fraud the US government is perpetuating. ======================================================================= ====== 2. Don't Trust The Census - By John Gilmore: Don't Trust the Census John Gilmore When the US Government rounded up Japanese-Americans in 1942, they used the "supposedly private" census data to tell the soldiers how many Japanese lived on each block. Perhaps they didn't hand out these families' census forms, but the data needed to put them into prison camps certainly came from the "strictly confidential" census. Don't participate in it, don't work for it, don't fill it out, and feed it false data whenever you can. There is no effective law against doing so; the maximum penalty is $100, no jail, and it is VERY rarely enforced. The Constitution authorizes them to count heads every ten years, not to ask how many bathrooms you have and what racial group your ancestors are from. Previous abuses of census information A good reference is an editorial in the Wall Street Journal of 8/8/89, page A10, "Honesty May Not Be Your Best Census Policy", by James Bovard. I found a copy in the SF Public Library on microfilm. Your library probably has it somewhere. It documents a couple of violations. The most obvious is that census data was used to round up the Japanese-Americans in 1942. "The Census Bureau provided the Army with a list of exactly how many Japanese-Americans lived in given neighborhoods, making it easy to round them up for internment during World War II. Census Bureau spokesman Ray Bancroft insists that this was not a breach of confidentiality because the bureau did not give out the names or exact addresses of Japanese-Americans. This is like someone claiming he bears no responsibility for setting loose on your block a wolf that just happened to gnaw on your leg -- simply because he didn't set the wolf free at your doorstep and tell the wolf to bite you personally." Other cases occurred in Montgomery County, MD; Pullman, Wash; Long Island Regional Planning Commission; and Urbana, IL; where census data released on a 'block' basis is used to check compliance with local building codes and zoning laws. A block can have as few as 6 houses; the average is 14. This clearly lets these governments pinpoint where to send their inspectors to charge people with violations. The IRS tried to use computer matching of census data and private mailing lists to track down people who don't file income taxes, in 1983. All of the above is from the article. The maximum penalties are from the Census Act itself, I think it's Title 12 of the US Code. You can find it in any law library or government depository library (e.g. your city library or large university library). If you look in the "US Code Annotated" books then you'll find the court cases about the Census Act listed too. How to handle public meetings about the census (Written by me in 1990 last time this happened.) I just got back from a Census rah-rah meeting sponsored by two local Congresswomen. They had a bunch of folks from the Census Bureau plus people from the local Complete Count Committee. The Complete Count Committee represents local communities trying to get a good count, e.g. the homeless, blacks, arabs, Latinos, asians, etc. The Committee had little good to say about the Census Bureau, a litany of broken promises and no support. The homeless won't be counted well because sending in middleclass people scares them, and few homeless are willing to submit to an FBI check so they can work for the Census Bureau for a few weeks. Latino enumerators are required to pass an English literacy exam because the enumerator classes and administration forms are in English, even though the census forms themselves are available in Spanish. Census bureau outreach to schools has been botched by sending one lesson-plan packet to each school principal, none to teachers. Etc. They tried to railroad the question-answer period so if you go to such a meeting, watch out for that. There were a bunch of people who were waiting to ask or comment when they said they would take two more questions. I interrupted them and called them on it, saying that they were more interested in telling us what to do than in listening to our questions and comments, and they said the meeting was advertised to end at noon. They then spent the next ten minutes blathering, thanking everyone for coming and etc. They didn't get away with it because they were cornered in the hall by about 40 people (most of the audience) and had to listen and respond for another 25 minutes. I found that my first question, "Didn't the census bureau supply the Army with the locations of all the Japanese-Americans in 1942 so that they could be taken off to concentration camps?" provoked quite a stir in the audience. The Census Bureau's answer didn't quiet the stir. I asked it in response to their speech about the utter "confidentiality" of the information. However, this alerted them that I was a troublemaker and thereafter, a Congresswoman interrupted whenever it looked like the moderator was going to call on me. Moral: Bring a few people and don't sit together! My second question I squeezed in at the end after they tried to squelch further discussion. It was "If someone decides not to answer the census, what is the maximum penalty? Can they be sent to jail?" The first phrase is critical, the whole meeting had not even mentioned that someone could "decide not to answer", they talked about "undercounts" and "outreach efforts" and "refugees from repressive governments who we need to convince about our government". Unfortunately the Census Bureau rep lied in his answer, saying $1000. The Census Act specifies a penalty of $100. I spoke with the Census rep afterward, and he surprised me by saying that his parents and siblings were taken to the internment camps (he is Japanese- American). But he still doesn't see anything wrong with the census. He said that the data the Army used was available to everyone -- not noticing that the mere collection of the data makes its abuse, as well as its use, inevitable. He seemed to be slightly moved by my charging him with making it easier for the next round-up, say of Central Americans or drug users. (The data they supplied was how many Japanese lived in each block in the country. The average block contains 14 houses. If the data says 5 Japanese live on this block, they just have to search until they find the household (two parents, three kids) and then they can go on to the next block, skipping completely the ones with no Japanese. In short, it made the repression a lot easier to administer. Their defense is that they didn't give out names and addresses -- just which block each Japanese-American lived in.) They have a publicity machine cranking up for the rest of the month so there will probably be plenty of opportunities for Libertarians to speak out on this issue. I encourage every Libertarian candidate for office to take a stand now, while the Census is "newsworthy". You might call local radio station personalities and see if they will do a show about the Census (with you in the studio!). The morning commuter shows might be a good place, and the late night national and regional talk shows. A good starting point for research is the Wall Street Journal, 8/8/89, page A10, editorial by James Bovard of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. This one page (reproduced below) will give you more points than you're likely to be able to bring up in a meeting or talk show. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Consequences of Census Resistance ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ From: Lee King Subject: Re: Consequences of census resistance Date: 9 Mar 90 22:22:30 Since the census bureau only filed against one person in 1960 and one in 1970 (and later dropped the charges, according to the mail out from the Committee for Census Privacy), I don't intend to answer non-count questions, either. If they try to prosecute thousands of us it will cost them more than what it's worth (I hope). --- * Origin: Liberty Houston (713) 785-4763 (Opus 1:106/1776) Date: Mon, 09 Apr 90 12:50:19 -0700 I read a summary of the case that indicated $100/question but I haven't read the actual case. At any rate I don't think it set a national precedent, or was applied against more than one person. It wasn't a Supreme Court case, just a local Federal district court case. In 1960 two people were prosecuted for resisting the Census. In 1970 one person. In 1980 we don't have figures but it wasn't masses of people. They don't like to give it publicity. I went to a meeting with two Congresswomen and the local Census honchos, and they were quite careful to even avoid mentioning the possibility that people might DECIDE to not answer the census. They kept talking about undercounts and such, but implying it was all due to mistakes or 'missing some people' rather than those people DECIDING not to be part of the sham. Date: Fri, 16 Mar 90 16:52:36 -0800 One court case held the $100 to be per question, not per form. I don't recall which district it was binding in, and didn't look up the case itself, so I don't know if it was used to charge somebody $800 for not answering all 8 questions, or $100 for not answering one of the questions though they answered the rest, or what. The US Code Annotated (look in the index under the Census Act) has the reference to the case, which you can then look up in the cases from that district. It doesn't set a national precedent because it wasn't a Supreme Court case. Libertarian Party position on the 1990 census The platform says (in the Protection of Privacy plank): So long as the National Census and all federal, state, and other government agencies' compilations of data on an individual continue to exist, they should be conducted only with the consent of the persons from whom the data is sought. Here's a press release from some Libertarian congressional candidates: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: June Genis (415) 851-5224 or (415) 723-4422 Congressional Candidate Protests Census Penalties Redwood City --June Genis, who is opposing Tom Lantos in the 11th Congressional District on the Libertarian ticket, has indicated that she will not fully comply with the 1990 census as a protest against the current criminal penalties for non-compliance. Genis says that while she is "proud to stand up and be counted" that she will answer only the head-count questions and leave all others unanswered. "Many of the questions asked on the census are harmless and I expect most people, including myself, would probably not mind answering them for anyone. But other questions are very invasive of personal privacy and I do not believe that anyone should be subjected to hundreds of dollars in fines for failing to answer them or for giving incorrect answers". She also noted that the sixth of the population which will be required to complete the long forms are being asked to invest several hours of unpaid labor on behalf of the government which will then turn around and sell the results to private companies. "Why should any Americans be forced to become market research subjects against their will and without compensation?" Genis also noted that despite the vigorous, and likely expensive, advertising campaign to convince us of the confidential nature of census responses, it was census data that helped to round up Japanese Americans for the Word War II internment camps. "No, the Census Bureau did not tell the internment team that Mr. Yamaguchi lives at 123 Main Street, but they did supply the information that exactly five Japanese Americans live on the 100 block of Main Street which made it very easy for them to know where to go and how many bodies they should be able to collect on each street." Pointing out that although the Constitution empowers Congress to conduct a census for the purpose of apportioning representation, there is nothing there which empowers them to demand answers to any questions they chose to ask. "Yet", says Genis, "they have taken the position that it would perfectly all right for them to compel you to enumerate what weapons you own or what illicit substances you consume and pretend that this would not be a violation of your constitution rights just because they won't divulge any individual answers. We have already heard proposals to create concentration camps for drug users and to seize all privately owned semi-automatic weapons. There is simply no way to tell how the answers that people supply today might be used against them in the future". One person's approach to the American Housing Survey Date: Mon, 26 Mar 90 22:12:31 EST From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Alan Groupe) As we are now starting to receive our 1990 census forms, I thought some of you might like to know about the experience I had this time last year with a similar survey from the census bureau, called the American Housing Survey. In April of 1989, Nancy Butter rang my doorbell and asked me to answer several questions about my house, my neighbors, my neighborhood, etc., under the guise of something called the American Housing Survey. I told her I was not interesting in participating and after a moderate length discussion on how important this was and how I would be throwing off all the statistics, she left me a 6 page brochure describing the survey and told me that I would be receiving a letter from the Regional Director, an Arthur G. Dukakis. [As it turns out, Arthur IS related to Michael -- he's a cousin, I think.] I received the following letter, dated April 17: Dear Mr. Groupe: We recently visited you and asked that you participate in the American Housing Survey. The U.S. Bureau of the Census is conducting this survey in many metropolitan areas for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This survey is conducted under the authority of Title 12, Section 1701Z-1 and 2g of the United States Code. You indicated to the interviewer who visited you that you did not wish to participate in this survey. This survey is so important that we hope that a further explanation will cause you to reconsider your decision. The primary purpose of the American Housing Survey is to provide cur- rent information on the size and composition of housing in your area. We ask questions about the housing people live in, the age of the buildings, the presence of selected facilities in your home, and the adequacy of neighborhood services. In a society as complex as our, it is necessary that our nation's decision makers be as well informed as possible in order to make the decisions that affect the lives of us all. The job of the U.S. Bureau of the Census is to be provide [sic] our national and local government leaders, as well as our business leaders, with statistical information on various aspects of our society. Any information provided for this survey is confidential, by law, under Title 13, Section 9a, United States Code. No information which would identify an individual will be released. Your answers will be used only to prepare statistical summaries. Our interviewers and out office staff have been sworn to confidentiality and I can assure you that the record of the U.S. Bureau of the Census is unblemished. You will, by participating make a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the nation's housing. In the future, when you see or hear housing statistics, you will know that you helped in the preparation of these figures. I trust that we can rely on you to help. Our representatives will call on you again within the next few days. Sincerely, Arthur G. Dukakis Regional Director I responded with the following letter: Dear Mr. Dukakis, Recently, one of your field interviewers visited me and requested that I donate my time -- I presume that I'm paying her for hers -- to participate in the American Housing Survey. She then handed me a fact sheet so that I might know what this survey is about. According to the fact sheet, this information will be used to assist the federal government in establishing a national housing policy. Since it is my fervent belief that the only proper housing policy would have no role for government, and since I do not believe that this is the type of policy the American Housing Survey is intended to engender, I could not in good conscience comply with your request. You then sent me a letter asking me to reconsider, based on all the nice, wonderful things government does with all the information it collects. In your letter you stated, "In a society as complex as ours, it is necessary that our nation's decision makers be as well informed as possible in order to make the decisions that affect the lives of us all." I couldn't disagree with you more. In a society as complex as ours, it is necessary that our nation's decision makers STOP MAKING SO MANY DECISIONS that affect the lives of us all. In closing your letter to me you indicated that once again you would be sending an interviewer to talk to me. It angers me greatly that you are: 1) collecting data for an inappropriate purpose; 2) asking me to donate substantial amounts of my time to assist you (I remember the virtual novel your department asked me to fill out in 1980); 3) spending MY hard-earned money to do so; and 4) ignoring my wishes by sending out a second interviewer after I believe I made it clear that I did not wish to participate. Maybe when the government learns that it is not entitled to the services of its citizens, people like me would be more willing to cooperate. But until such time, I wouldn't hold my breath. Sincerely, Alan Groupe I didn't hear anything more from them. -- Alan Groupe | Data: (603) 672-9662 2 Great Brook Road | Cserve: 73607,2241 Milford, NH 03055 | uucp: decvax!ubbs-nh!trashbin!alang (603) 672-9155 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] A Japanese-American view of the census Date: Thu, 26 Apr 90 14:58:40 PDT From: Ed Hall Well, I believe I read it in Pacific Citizen, the weekly newspaper of the Japanese American Citizen's League. My wife probably threw out the edition I was thinking of--it would have been in mid-March. Needless to say, the issue does come up. More recently, the JACL joined with other Asian-American groups in a strong effort to get Asian-Americans to be counted. (This edition we still have: April 6, front page). Your assertion is quite correct, though, if you change the word ``block'' to ``tract.'' But, then, anyone can obtain such information. You can even get tract data on CD-ROM these days. The history of the wartime internment is chock full of reasons not to trust government agencies, Congress, the President, or even the Supreme Court. Read Michi Weglyn's ``Years Of Infamy'' for a hard-hitting, well-documented history. The ``Justice'' department comes out looking particularly bad; it fought against justice for interned Japanese-Americans well into the '60s. There is absolutely no mention of the Census Bureau, though. Various intelligence agencies had been spying on the Japanese-American community for almost a decade before the war. They already knew where they were. What's worse, they already knew that the chance of any problems with that community were slim-to-none. My mother-in-law spent the war in a camp in Arkansas; my father-in-law fled with his family to central Utah, where he spent the war until he was old enough to enlist. They were both originally from the San Jose area. Unlike some Nisei, they've talked about their experiences with their children--and with their children-in-law. This sort of thing isn't a forgotten issue with us. I see no reason to slander one of the few government organizations which *wasn't* involved. -Ed ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- WALL STREET JOURNAL Wall St. Journal article: Honesty may not be your best census policy HONESTY MAY NOT BE YOUR BEST CENSUS POLICY By James Bouvard Wall St Journal 8-Aug-89 Next year, the Census Bureau will conduct the nation's 21st decennial census. Ironically, while the bureau collect masses of information partly to justify expanding various welfare programs, many poor people will be victimized by the answers. While many liberal groups are worried about how the census will count the homeless, no one is paying attention to how the census could create new homeless. The census forms next year will ask up to 59 compulsory questions per household, depending upon whether it receives a long or short form. They will include up to 26 questions on housing -- type of building, approximate number of units in the building, monthly rent or mortgage payments, whether solar energy is used, etc. Anyone who refuses to answer any question can be fined $100. Each household will receive an official notice with its census form next March: "Although your answers are required, the law guarantees privacy ... The only people allowed to see your answers to the census are Census Bureau employees. No one else -- no person, government agency, police officer, judge, welfare agency -- can see them. It's the law." Federal law states that "in no case shall [census] information be used to the detriment of any respondent or other persons to whom such information relates." Yet, people have been evicted for giving honest census answers. Though the Census Bureau does not release data on each household, it does release information on each block -- and a block can have as few as six houses on it. The average block contains 14 houses. According to the General Accounting Office, one of the most frequent ways city governments use census information is to detect illegal two-family dwellings. An American Planning Association survey reported that housing code enforcement was a key benefit of census data for local governments. For instance, Montgomery County, MD, and Pullman, Washington, use census data on the number of housing units in a structure to check compliance with zoning regulations. The Long Island Planning Board uses census "block counts ... to estimate the extent of illegal two-family home conversions," according to a June 27, 1986 board letter. Such "illegal" two-family dwellings are pervasive on Long Island, according to Anthony Downs of the Brookings Institution. Such crackdowns are especially unfortunate because, as George Sternlieb of Rutgers University notes "The biggest source of good-size rental apartments in America is the illegal conversion of single-family houses." Census data help housing inspectors zero in on violators. Bruce Stoffel of the Community Services Department of the City of Urbana, Illinois, declared in an Aug 24, 1987 letter to the Census Bureau that he "routinely used census data to analyze the developmental stage of neighborhoods to determine the most appropriate public intervention strategies (e.g., code enforcement). Obviously, the people most likely to live in overcrowded situations are poor people, especially immigrants, who often cluster in the same neighborhood. Housing codes have long been used as a means to "keep out undesirables" and to exclude waves of newcomers. William Tucker, author of the forthcoming "The Excluded Americans" notes: "code enforcement has always been a very counterproductive way of trying to help the poor. It usually sacrifices the adequate in favor of the ideal. The Census Bureau denies responsibility for the eviction of poor people because the bureau does not release the precise names and addresses of housing code violators. It makes a similar argument about events that occurred in 1942, when the Census Bureau provided the Army with a list of exactly how many Japanese-Americans lived in given neighborhoods, making it easy to round them up for internment during World War II. Census Bureau spokesman Ray Bancroft insists that this was not a breach of confidentiality because the Bureau did not give out the names or exact addresses of Japanese-Americans. This is like someone claiming he bears no responsibility for setting loose on your block a wolf that just happens to gnaw on your leg -- simply because he didn't set the wolf free at your doorstep and tell the wolf to bite you personally. The IRS in 1983 attempted (largely unsuccessfully) to combine census data with private mailing lists in order to track down people who don't file income taxes. As computer technology advances, the ability of the IRS to "abuse" census data will increase. As David Burnham, author of the forthcoming "The IRS: A Law Unto Itself", says: "The IRS will try it again. As marketing lists become more complete and accurate, the IRS will become more able to combine them with census information to track people down." Information on race and home ownership is used to discover allocations of housing units that are discriminatory under the Civil Rights Act of 1984. Oxnard Park, California, uses census data to discover areas where landlords illegally discriminate against families with children. Information on occupations is used by corporations and government attorneys to construct affirmative-action quotas for different industries. Information on "place of birth" is used by the Civil Rights Commission as a baseline for determining discrimination by national origin. Even though the census is especially inaccurate with regard to minorities, (who often prefer not to be counted), census data are increasingly being used to construct proofs of prejudice and discrimination. But the more intrusive government becomes, the less information it will get. The Census Bureau is expecting a sharp decline in the percentage of households that voluntarily mail back their census forms -- from 83% in 1980 to 78% in 1990. A lower response rate will sharply increase the costs of doing the census. The cost per capita of the census has increased from $121 in 1970 to $1040 in 1990 -- a cost spiral that almost makes the Pentagon look good. (The total census cost next year is expected to weigh in at $2.6 billion). [sic -- actual per cap cost is $2600*10^6 / 250*10^6 = $10.40 -- looks like the decimal points got lost]. While most information-intensive industries utilize computers to sharply lower their costs of operation, the Census Bureau has repeatedly botched its operations and squandered millions. The bureau will need to recruit 300,000 census takers next year to go around and knock on doors. But, unless the nation has a major recession between now and then, the efforts to recruit temporary help could be a big failure, and the entire census effort could run aground. Recruitment is already running into difficulty in many areas. The more information the government collects on people, the more control the government will have over people. When there are hundreds of thousands of pages of federal, state and local rules and regulations, almost every citizen must be guilty of something. And will millions of government employees in this nation, there are too many people with an incentive to abuse government information to fill their quotas of citations, arrests and investigations. Mr. Bovard, a 1980 census taker, is an associate policy analyst for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. What happens if you don't answer Subject: Census Compliance Date: Wed Mar 28 09:34:55 1990 From: Bob Alexander | On the bright side, the census official said that compliance in 1980 was | ~83% (they send out people to homes to collect the other 17%. He did | not say what the compliance was after that.) According to the WSJ, if you refuse to answer they will fill the form out themselves by asking your neighbors. [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], my PGP key ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Last updated Wed Sep 15 00:50:50 PDT 1999 ======================================================================= ======= 3. Matt Drudge Report 15 March 2000 CENSUS BUREAU LINKED TO WWII INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE-AMERICANS The NEW YORK TIMES is reporting in Friday editions that "[t]wo scholars say in a new research paper that despite earlier denials, the Census Bureau was deeply involved in the roundup and internment of Japanese-Americans at the onset of U.S. entry into World War II." According to TIMES' scribe Steven Holmes, the Census Buerau helped identify "concentrations of people of Japanese ancestry in geographic units as small as city blocks." The bureau is said to have given vital statistics- including age, sex, citizenship and country of birth * on only Japanese-Americans to the War Department (now known as the Defense Department). The research paper cited is entitled "After Pearl Harbor: The Proper Role of Population Data Systems in Time of War" and was written by Margo Anderson, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) and William Seltzer, a statistician and demographer at Fordham University. It will be released next week in Los Angeles at the annual Population Association of America meeting. Japanese-Americans have long suspected that the Census Bureau played a prominent role in the relocation of 120,000 residents of Japanese ancestry to detention camps. Former California congressman Norman Mineta, who spent time in a Wyoming detention center tells the paper: "We've always suspected this. After all, they are the keeper of this kind of information." Writes Holmes: "The Census Bureau often boasted that its conduct in the relocation of Japanese-Americans had been its finest hour because it resisted pressure to provide explicit data to the War and Justice Departments. But Census Bureau officials do not dispute the findings of the paper." Matt Drudge 15 March 2000 ======================================================================= ======= 4. Cooperation Between the Census Office and the US Post Office Thursday March 16, 3:52 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau The Census and the Post Office Work Together To Ensure Accurate Census Count DETROIT, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The country's largest peacetime operation is taking place this week in people's homes: the arrival of the Census 2000 questionnaire. To help assure an accurate count, the Census Bureau is working closely with the U.S. Postal Service to see that all Census 2000 forms have correct addresses and reach the proper destination. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991206/DEM005 ) In addition to a readable mailing address, each Census 2000 form has a postal bar code and a Census Bureau number code, called the geographic code or ``geocode.'' The postal bar code identifies each piece of mail for accurate sorting and proper delivery, while the geocode specifically pinpoints the address of a residence, right down to its physical location on the map. This guarantees that every resident gets counted in the city in which he or she lives. In some instances, the third line of the form's mailing address may show the city of the post office that services the area instead of the city for the mailing address. This is not an unusual postal procedure, and will in no way affect the accurate tabulation of data on the questionnaires for the Census 2000 count. ``Though the ZIP Code boundaries are not always the same as city boundaries, we are committed to delivering the Census questionnaires so that every resident can be counted,'' says Detroit Postmaster Lloyd E. Wesley, Jr. For the city of Detroit and elsewhere, this means that some households may receive Census questionnaires and other mail with a city address that differs from the residence. For instance, people in the city of Detroit who share zip codes with Hamtramck and Highland Park, may receive forms addressed for those cities and not Detroit. However, those people will still be counted as residents in the city of Detroit. In addition, both the Census Bureau and local government officials have verified all addresses so that each household is geocoded properly for an accurate count, regardless of the address used by the post office for delivering mail. There is a tremendous amount of money and power at stake with Census 2000. In effect, this is a chance for all of us to decide where billions of dollars in public and private resources will be spent and to determine our share of political representation. It also provides every racial and ethnic group in the U.S. with a chance to be officially recognized as part of the American tapestry. While Census 2000 may not seem as overtly crucial to the democratic process as voting and elections, it is true that a democracy needs to know who and where its people are in order to provide the resources everyone needs and deserves. SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau ======================================================================= ====== 5. INS To Lie Low for Census Wednesday March 15 07:38 PM EST INS to Lie Low for Census WASHINGTON (APBnews.com) -- The Immigration and Naturalization Service decided this week to postpone "routine operations" in areas where national census workers are trying to tally heads. Ten years ago, census takers missed about 8 million people, mostly immigrants and the poor, and counted another 4 million people twice, officials said. So this year, to ensure fuller participation, the Census Bureau launched a record $103 million ad campaign to make sure undercounted populations don't skip the census and cheat themselves out of government representation and funding. "Even immigrants who are here legally have fears," said Frank Newton, a spokesman for the Census Dallas region, which supervises operations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. "They think the benefits they're receiving will be curtailed. We have to reassure them again and again that by law we are not allowed to communicate with the INS." The INS is hoping their policy change will avoid any confusion that might obscure the Census Bureau's message. "We want everyone to be counted, and the census wants everybody to be counted, but we want everyone to understand that there's no connection between census takers and the INS," said Don Mueller, an INS spokesman. "The goal is that everybody here gets counted." Alien roundups unlikely By law, the Census Bureau cannot divulge information on individuals to law enforcement or any other government agency. But after more than a year of meetings, the INS and Customs agreed to share logistical information, such as when and where census takers will be working, so that the INS can steer clear of those areas. The Census Bureau began mailing out its forms earlier this month. By late April, clipboard-oting census workers will begin visiting households that haven't returned the forms in the mail. The house-to-house count will continue into November. "In discussion with the INS, we're letting them know that we're going to be in these communities, in these areas," Newton said. "And they have agreed to diminish what they call routine operations." In reality, routine operations involving the capture of illegal aliens who are otherwise obeying the law have been declining for years and are unlikely to take place in residential neighborhoods anyway, officials said. INS focusing on criminal immigrants Arrests of illegal aliens for deportation fell last year to 8,600, down from 22,000 in 1997, according to the INS. Instead, the INS has been focusing on capturing aliens, both legal and illegal, who commit crimes once they arrive in the United States. Numbers of these criminal arrests have jumped in recent years. In 1993, the INS arrested 27,825 criminal aliens. In 1998, it arrested 55,639. Last year, that number jumped to 62,359. "If you have a limited number of resources, rather than take a shotgun approach, we said let's target the criminal aliens, the ones who are most at danger to the public," Mueller said. "We can't do both criminal and workplace enforcement when our resources are limited." While the INS has promised to review all its procedures to see how they might impact ongoing census operations, a spokesman stressed that the immigration service will continue to take emergency actions. "We would go in if there was a danger to public safety, if there was a criminal residing there, if there was a national security threat, if there were aliens being held captive," Mueller said. "Before we go in, we're going to make sure we're satisfied these operations can't be postponed." By Hans H. Chen, an APBnews.com staff writer =============================================================== 6. Lockheed Develops Census Technology Wednesday March 15, 4:27 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Mission Systems Lockheed Martin Data Capture System 2000 'Up for The Count' As U.S. Census Gets Underway GAITHERSBURG, Md., March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- With the start of the U.S. Census, Data Capture System 2000 (DCS 2000), developed by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Census Bureau, has begun one of the largest and most sophisticated information capture jobs ever undertaken, the processing of a veritable avalanche in information that will ultimately provide an updated picture of the U.S. as this new century begins. DCS 2000 will read the handwriting on Census returns from an estimated 120 million U.S. households and over the next several weeks process some 1.5 billion pages of information, capturing data provided by citizens across the country and converting it into electronic format for subsequent analysis. Lockheed Martin engineers and U.S. Census Bureau systems experts have a high level of confidence in the system, which marks the most extensive use of technology to process a Census and the first time that automated recognition technology has been used to read handwriting in the Census taking. The system has undergone several test runs and ``dress rehearsals'' during the course of its development over the past two and one half years to assure its readiness for the task that began officially this week. Last month, in a final test of readiness, the DCS 2000 systems at all four Census processing locations, took on a full production load, working continuously over two shifts for four days. ``The results provided a full confirmation of readiness in all regards since the test brought together both administrative and site processing operations,'' said Clyde Relick, DCS program manager for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems. ``We simulated the entire operations spectrum over the four- day period, using the final release of software, and it performed flawlessly.'' Relick noted that the system was available during the entire test and that some 3.2 million forms were processed with all production goals met. DCS 2000 supports the entire Census processing from check-in of arriving forms to the point where the final captured data is forwarded to Census Bureau computers, ready for analysis by scholars and planners, citizenry and press and others. ``While some keying of information will be required and human operators will assist throughout the operation, the number of people needed to support the operation has been reduced by as much as 75 percent due to the efficiency of DCS 2000,'' said Relick. DCS 2000 systems are operational at the four Census processing locations, including Baltimore, Md; Jeffersonville, Ind; Phoenix, Ariz; and Pomona, Calif. A leader in mission critical systems integration and information operations, Lockheed Martin Mission Systems serves customers including U.S. and international defense and civil government agencies. Mission Systems employs approximately 2,700 at major facilities in Gaithersburg, Md., Colorado Springs, Colo., Manassas, Va., and Santa Maria, Calif., and is a business unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md, Lockheed Martin is a global enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced-technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's core businesses are systems integration, space, aeronautics, and technology services. SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Mission Systems ================================================ 7. Barcode Technology Ensures Count Wednesday March 15, 10:07 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Census Bureau Bar Code Technology Ensures Accurate Census Count Census 2000 - 'Simpler, More Accurate, Less Costly' DETROIT, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the country's largest and most important operations is taking place this week in people's homes: the arrival of the Census 2000 questionnaire. With the wonder of modern technology, the U.S. Postal Service works in partnership with the Census Bureau to make sure that all Census 2000 forms have accurate addresses and reach the proper destination. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991206/DEM005 ) In addition to a mailing address, each Census 2000 form has a postal bar code and a Census Bureau number code, called the ``geocode'' or geographic code. The postal bar code identifies each piece of mail for accurate sorting and proper delivery, while the geocode specifically pinpoints the address of a residence, right down to its physical location on the map. This ensures that every resident gets counted in the city in which he or she lives. In some instance, the third line of the form's mailing address may show the city of the post office that services the area instead of the city for the mailing address. This is normal postal procedure, and will in no way affect the accurate tabulation of data on the questionnaires for the Census 2000 count. There is a tremendous amount of money and power at stake with Census 2000. In effect, this is a chance for all of us to decide where billions of dollars in public and private resources will be spent and determine our share of political representation. It also provides every racial and ethnic group in the U.S. with a chance to be officially recognized as part of the American tapestry. While Census 2000 may not seem as overtly crucial to the democratic process as voting and elections, it is true that a democracy needs to know who and where its people are in order to provide the resources everyone needs and deserves. SOURCE: Census Bureau ================================================================== 8. AP Corrects Census Story on Sampling Friday March 3 1:39 PM ET AP Corrects Census 2000 Story WASHINGTON (AP) - The Associated Press reported erroneously on March 2 that a 1999 Supreme Court decision mandated the Census Bureau to use non-sampled data for the purpose of redistributing federal aid. The Supreme Court decision ordered the non-sampled data to be used for reapportioning Congressional seats. Non-sampled data is compiled from raw numbers the Census Bureau will compile. Sampling is a statistical method the bureau wants to use to account for members of the population who were not counted in the census. =========================================================== 9. Census Processing Information Tuesday February 22, 9:00 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: SGI SGI High-Performance Compute Servers to Handle Census 2000 Data Network of SGI Origin Servers Deployed at Census Offices Nationwide to Generate over 20 Million Maps MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- SGI (NYSE: SGI - news) today announced work to upgrade the U.S. Census Bureau's nationwide network of high-performance SGI(TM) Origin(TM) servers. In preparation for Census 2000, this upgrade has more than doubled the Bureau's processing power, storage and memory in the 46 SGI Origin systems connecting 15 locations, to generate intricately detailed maps from massive amounts of geographic data. Before the Bureau can begin a population count, a tremendous amount of new neighborhood mapping information is gathered to produce more than 20 million maps, several versions for every city, town and county -- down to each block in every community in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Island Areas. The upgrade of the Origin systems will better enable the Bureau to produce these critical maps with far more speed and accuracy. The final census counts serve as the basis of government activities such as reapportionment and redistricting of legislatures, including the House of Representatives, and the allocation of federal and state funds. Delivery of the first maps to designated state, county and local officials, as well as the Bureau's regional and local census offices, is now -- and has been -- under way in preparation for Census 2000, a massive government project undertaken once every 10 years. The network of 46 Origin servers is deployed across 15 U.S. Census Bureau locations: the Bureau's national headquarters, its 12 regional census centers, its National Processing Center and a special test site. The servers are linked via a high-speed, secure broadband network, now with 8 to 16 processors and memory as high as 16 GB. At the core of the installation, the Geography Division uses the networked SGI(TM) systems to run custom-developed application programs -- part of the Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing known as the TIGER� System. TIGER is the source of all Census 2000 maps. Census Bureau field staff, including enumerators who help create, update, and check the accuracy and completeness of the residential address list used for Census 2000, use these maps to ensure that each address is located in its correct census block. In some parts of the nation, these maps also will guide enumerators as they deliver the Census 2000 questionnaire that residents are asked to complete and mail back to the Bureau. TIGER is also used to generate larger maps that show the boundaries of every appropriate jurisdiction, and provide the opportunity for elected officials to review and correct the boundaries to January 1, 2000. Another requirement of TIGER is very high I/O requirement of the disk subsystem. To remove the overhead of NFS file-sharing software, the Bureau has also ordered SGI's CXFS(TM), which is the clustered version of the software and which is based on new fiber Storage Area Network (SAN) technology. SGI's CXFS application allows files to be accessed by multiple systems directly, without the use of an NFS-based file server, and lowers the delay associated with loading large numbers of files by multiple systems. Accuracy Pays Off Incomplete and mislocated addresses and out-of-date maps would increase the operational cost of the census to taxpayers -- currently projected to total about $4 billion. It is also particularly important to have accurate information in areas that don't have city-style addresses used for mail delivery and in areas that often have large numbers of seasonal and migrant workers that can be overlooked in a count. Enumerators have visited thousands of farms, fields and orchards to make sure that every barn, packing house, boxcar and bus where people are living is represented on the census address list. In mail-census areas, if the questionnaires are not returned, the enumerators will revisit these places to ensure that a questionnaire is completed, and accurate maps are critical in finding every residence. Of the many critical needs for more accurate census data and maps is that of redistricting, which redraws the boundaries for the U.S. House of Representatives, school districts, state legislative districts, local voting districts and even the amount of federal funds allocated to state and local governments. For example, the resulting population data collected for Census 2000 will be used in determining eligibility or distribution to state and local governments of more than $180 billion a year in federal program funds (FY 1996 figures). About Origin Servers The SGI(TM) Origin(TM) 2000 server family is used for high-performance, computationally intensive applications in business, government and scientific and technical communities. Use of SGI MIPS� processors, combined with its IRIX� operating system and ccNUMA architecture in a 64-bit scalable server environment, allows Origin to scale to thousands of processors, providing the opportunity to seamlessly grow as customer requirements demand. The CXFS file clustering technology allows data to be shared by multiple systems at the same time with little to no overhead associated with normal NFS file sharing. About SGI SGI provides a broad range of high-performance computing and advanced graphics solutions that enable customers to understand and conquer their toughest computing problems. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices worldwide, the company is located on the Web at www.sgi.com. NOTE: IRIX is a registered trademark, and SGI, the SGI logo, Origin and CXFS are trademarks, of Silicon Graphics, Inc. MIPS is a registered trademark of MIPS Technologies, Inc., used under license by Silicon Graphics, Inc. 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