The Right To Be Let Alone: When The Government Wants To Know All Your Business; If you haven’t already received an America Community Survey (ACS), it’s just a matter of time.

The Rutherford Institute ^ | 03/08/2023 | John and Nisha Whitehead

[Jonty30]

The survey was lost in a boating accident, along with my guns.

[AnAmericanMother]

Any genealogist can tell you this is not accurate.

Previous censuses have varied a good deal, but many have asked all sorts of prying questions. The worst was probably the 1900 census - as the handwritten returns show. Not only getting into your business, but your parents' as well.

[KrisKrinkle]

What happens if you decline to answer based on your Fifth Amendment right? Anything you say can and will be used against you.

[NWFree]

My health insurance survey sent a survey wanting to know far more information than they needed. They sent several for over a year. I threw every one of them in the trash can sorry turds data mining me like tech cronies they can kiss my butt

[KrisKrinkle]

What happens if you decline to answer based on your Fifth Amendment right? Anything you say can and will be used against you.

[lee martell]

Am I understanding you to say that the worst, meaning most intrusive census ever issued to the public was that census from year 1900?

[Valpal1]

There’s a reason the don’t ever try to charge anyone for refusi g to answer. It simply won’t survive being tested in court and that will be the end of their survey.

Instead they just harass and threaten to get compliance.

[telescope115]

It’s going in the circular file, if I get one…

[TigersEye]

I don't answer questions.

[Sequoyah101]

They also send out a census of agriculture from usda with lots and lots of threats.

Will the Rutherford Institute who suggest not filling the form out and complaining to the same bureau that wants it provide legal representation when the fines come and take you all the way to the supreme can’t?

I didn’t think so.

[Texas resident]

I got one of those years ago. Oh boy did I have fun with it.

I am now a Hawaiian mix with Apache some where in there. I ride a bicycle. I live with 10 family members in a trailer.

[bohica1]

With the way our mail service is anymore, who’s to say you even got the survey delivered?

[algore]

I have gotten several of these.

the first one I filled out mostly.

then people started calling me and demanding the answers to the questions I did not answer.

Then people started knocking on my door wanting answers, I told them to go F themselves and finally they stopped.

the second time I made copies of and gave to my neighbors, and told them I would respond and that people might knock on their door and ask questions and apologized for that in advance.

when a person showed up to demand answers I told him he was trespassing and he was blocking my driveway, and to get off my property.

he refused and sat in his car so I pretended to call 911 and told him the response time was about 6 minutes and he gave me some line about how he was a gift employee and he could do anything he wanted used a really bright flashlight in flashing mode pointed in his eyes as he bitched at me for hurting his eyes. I also filmed the screen of his laptop as he was typing his report.

finally he left, so I got in my car and followed him for a while.

never got bothered again, and they didn’t harass my neighbors either.

[algore]

“However, because the government has not brought a prosecution for a refusal to respond to the ACS, the question of a person’s right to refuse has not yet been decided by a court.”

and they never will because they know it is illegal and do not want a court ruling. this is why I did not fill out the second one.

[metmom]

The irony is that many of these questions can be answered right now by the government itself through a simple perusal of your income tax records and realtor searches.

I’m sure our bank and medical records are also an open book to them. They don’t need me to fill out forms detailing that information.

What I see going on is you filling out the form, giving information that contradicts what is already out there, and then you are faced with fines for *incorrectly* filling out the forms by giving *Misleading information.

Nor do they need to know my bathing habits. How and how often I clean my body is none of their stinking business nor is how many days I did not feel well.

[catnipman]

“It’s going in the circular file, if I get one”

i think that’s really the best response ... and block any phone calls and refuse to answer the door or talk with anyone you don’t know ... just shut the door ... seriously, hangup; shut door; no talking ... the less information they have as to what’s happening, the better ... if they have zero information as to what’s going on, then any response will be pro-forma and ineffective ... one time, i even warned my neighbors i was being harassed and asked that they give out no information ... a couple told me that they had been contacted about me ...

[teeman8r]

I had a census woman follow up at my door because all I put on my form was three people live at this address. I female. 2 males.

I told her I filled out all she needed to know, and she started filling out my race and approximate age. I said I am done and calling the sheriff to arrest you for trespassing. She left

[BBB333]

I received the ‘extended’ census in 2000 & 2010.

I answered only the questions required in the regular census.

A census worker came to my door in 2000(1?)) to ask me for additional information.

I declined the census worker started asking me a few questions and I closed the door...

[Magnatron]

I got one of these in the last go around. I refused to fill it out and turned away a census guy from my door. Got a couple of letters that went in the trash, then they went away. Haven’t heard from anyone since.