The Right to Be Let Alone: When the Government Wants to Know All Your Business

By John Whitehead Nisha Whitehead
March 9, 2023

Guest commentators’ views may not represent the opinions of OAN and its affiliates.

“Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent.”—Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis

The census used to be a simple head count.

It isn’t anymore.

It American Community Survey The ACS, which is sent out to approximately 3.5 million households each year, is a result of a government who believes that it can have all your private business.

You don’t need an ACS if you already have one.

This is a vast improvement on the traditional census which only identifies the people living in each house, along with their ages and ethnicities. The ACS asks some of the most in-depth and detailed questions possible in a questionnaire about a population.

The 28-page document includes an instruction packet of 16 pages. These questions cover topics that the government doesn’t have any business knowing. They include questions about bathing habits and home utility costs as well as fertility and marital history.

The ACS also asks for information such as the number of people living in your home and details about their lives, including their name and relationship with you. This includes their race, marital status, gender, and any physical, mental, or emotional issues. It also inquires about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in your home.

The survey then goes deeper.

You will be asked to provide detailed information about your finances, including how many cars you have and how often you drive them, as well as how sick you are. You will also be asked to reveal your employer’s names, addresses, and relatives in the survey.

Other information such as education, number of years completed in school, language proficiency, and time spent at work is required to complete the questionnaire.

Individuals that receive the ACS need to finish it. Otherwise, they could face monetary penalties.

However, although no evidence has been found of anyone being punished for refusing answers to the survey questions, there is still the possibility that fines could be imposed for those who refuse to take part in the ACS. A $100 penalty is assessed for every unanswered question. For every question that is not answered, there will be a $100 fine. A $500 penalty for each false answer to a question. For noncompliance, fines for a couple who refuses to complete any questionnaires or just answers in a nonsensical manner could reach as high as $10,000 and $50,000.

While many of the questions from the ACS seem quite routine, it is important to know why it is necessary, what it will be used for, or who it will be shared with.

There are many ways that the government can abuse its vast technological capabilities to spy on Americans without warrants. They also have the ability to mine and harvest the data from citizens for their own purposes.

The ACS is therefore a government program whose purpose, although routine and benign to the general public, poses significant constitutional issues.

The Rutherford Institute There have been hundreds of queries from those who have already received an ACS. These individuals are not happy to share their personal details or feel uneasy about the aggressive tactics employed by Census Bureau agents in order to compel them to answer ACS questions.

As a reminder, the following Q&A has been prepared. resource To those who wish to understand more about their rights with respect to the ACS.

Q:  What kind of questions are contained in the ACS?

A:  The ACS contains questions that go far beyond typical census questions about the number of individuals within the household and their age, race, and sex. This survey asks you a series of intrusive questions as well as detailed financial information. Furthermore, the questionnaire also demands that recipients provide information about their family and other  people in their home, such as their educational levels, how many years of school were completed, what languages they speak, when they last worked at a job, and when occupants of your home are away from the house.

Q:  How will this information be used?

A:  The Census Bureau states that information from this survey is used to assist a wide variety of entities, from federal, state and local governments to private corporations, nonprofit organizations, researchers and public advocacy groups. On its website, the Bureau provides information on the use of this data. It lists 35 categories of questions and explains how it is used.  The information can be used to aid private companies in 12 cases.  The information can also be used to assist advocacy groups in 22 other categories. Nine of the cases are covered by the Census Bureau, which states that advocacy groups will use the Census Bureau’s responses. “advocate for policies that benefit their groups,” Advocates based on marital status, age, race and sex are all included. Information obtained by the ACS does not just inform the government in a neutral fashion, it is being shared with private actors to help promote political and corporate agendas.

Brookings Institute has raised concerns about the law enforcement’s use of ACS information.  “crime mapping,” This surveillance tool is used to detect crime in certain areas and prevent them from becoming a problem. It’s “most effective” Where “analysts can see the relationship between various types of criminal incidents (e.g., homicides, drug dealing) and neighborhood characteristics (risk factors such as poverty, population density, and vacant housing), pinpoint where crimes are most likely to occur (hot spots), and focus police resources accordingly.” According to the Brookings Institute, crime mapping can be more efficient and cost-effective because the ACS has data each year instead of every ten years.

Q:  Are my responses kept confidential?

A:  While the Census Bureau claims that an individual’s information will be kept strictly confidential, it does require a recipient to put their name on the survey, ostensibly for the purpose of asking follow-up questions in the event of missing or incomplete answers. Even though sharing your responses is prohibited by law, your answers can be linked.

Q:  Am I required by law to fully complete the American Community Survey?

A:  Federal law makes it mandatory to answer all questions on the ACS. Refusing to answer any question or providing an inexact answer on the ACS is a federal crime. According to the Census Bureau, all recipients must respond to all questions on the ACS.

Q:  Is there a penalty for refusing to answer American Community Survey questions?

A:  The law requiring answers to the ACS also provides that a person who fails to answer “shall be fined not more than $100.” Refusing to fill out the ACS may result in a much higher fine. Failure to answer certain questions on the ACS might be considered a separate offense and subject to a $100 fine.

Q:  Has the government prosecuted persons for refusing to answer the American Community Survey?

A:  While The Rutherford Institute has been made aware of Census Bureau agents engaging in harassing tactics and threatening behavior, to date, we are unaware of the Census Bureau having levied any financial penalties for non-compliance with the ACS. If the government adopts a policy, however, refusing to answer surveys is a violation of the law. A prosecution could be filed if this happens.

Q:  How does the Census Bureau typically ensure that people complete the survey?

A:  Those who do not answer the ACS risk repeated overtures—by mail, by phone and in person—from Census Bureau employees seeking to compel a response. The Census Bureau may call those who don’t respond to the survey to get their attention and visit them to force them to answer.

Critics argue that this is harassment. The Census Bureau claims a 97% response rate via these methods to their survey. A recipient completed the survey, but his answers were not received by the Census Bureau. This is how he described the situation. A note was left at the apartment by a Census Bureau worker asking for him to get in touch with her. The employee asked for permission to let her in his house when he responded. He refused and the employee was fired. “turned up twice unannounced at my apartment, demanding entry, and warning me of the fines I would face if I didn’t cooperate.” After he submitted a complaint to the Census Bureau, the agency realized that he had indeed completed the survey and was able to end its attempts at entering his home.

Q:  Is this an unconstitutional invasion of privacy?

A:  There are significant and legitimate questions concerning the authority of the government to require, under threat of prosecution and penalty, that persons answer questions posed by the ACS. The ACS isn’t required to be included in the enumeration as per Article I. This constitutional provision does not apply to a census used to count the population of each state. The ACS does more than count the persons living in a house.

Other contexts have also seen the U.S. Supreme Court rule that citizens do not need to answer any questions being posed to them by government agents and they are allowed to choose to ignore these requests. This principle might also apply to questions posed to ACS agents.  However, since the government hasn’t brought a criminal case for refusing to reply to the ACS agents, the question about a person’s rights to refuse is not being decided by a judge.

Q:  What are my options for objecting to the ACS survey as an intrusion on my Fourth Amendment rights?

A:  If you receive notice that you have been targeted to respond to the ACS and you desire to assert your right of privacy, you can voice those objections and your intent not to respond to the ACS by writing a letter to the Census Bureau. Rutherford Institute developed a form letter You may also use these resources to resist the government’s attempts to make you disclose your personal information.

In person or by telephone, Census Bureau staff may contact you to request your responses. If they do so, politely and firmly inform them that your views are not shared by the ACS. For your records, be sure to record any interaction you have with Bureau employees.

If you suspect that you have been harassed unfairly by a Census Bureau employee by telephone or in-person, it’s in your best interests to document all incidents, including the times and places, and then file a complaint with U.S. Census Bureau.

It is important to remember that not everything is always as simple as it seems.

In my book, I explain this clearly Battlefield America: The War on the American People And in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair DiariesAny attempt by government officials to invade the privacy rights of citizens or create a system that allows the population to be tracked, targeted and isolated must be met with great caution.

Although government agents are allowed to approach, question, and speak with citizens, they cannot violate the Fourth Amendment. Americans need to be vigilant about what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis called the constitutional. “right to be let alone.”

WC: 2002

John W. Whitehead (constitutional lawyer and author) is president and founder of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books The Erik Blair Diaries Battlefield America: The War on the American People These products are also available on www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at [email protected]. Nisha Whitehead serves as the executive director of The Rutherford Institute. You can find information about The Rutherford Institute at www.rutherford.org.

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