Census can't be reviewed using Patriot Act

[The Straight Story]

Census can't be reviewed using Patriot Act

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Commerce Department attorneys working with the U.S Justice Department have concluded that the Patriot Act doesn't give law-enforcement officials the power to look at how people fill out their census forms, U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said today.

An official announcement of the decision could be made next week by the Justice Department, Groves said. His comments came while speaking to journalists attending a workshop at the University of Michigan about the challenges facing the 2010 census, which include worries among immigrant groups about the confidentiality of their responses.

Groves said attorneys for the Commerce Department, the agency that runs the census, recently concluded that Title 13 - the law under which the Census Bureau operates and which guarantees the confidentiality of individuals' census information - trumps the Patriot Act, which granted law enforcement the power to collect otherwise-personal information such as banking and library records. The act doesn't specifically exempt census records.

Groves said the census has commissioned a number of surveys to "track the phenomenon" of what appears to be growing distrust about who will have access to census answers and for what purposes. The census will launch a national advertising blitz, costing more than $300 million, in January to counter the fears.

It will include television advertising during the Super Bowl, Groves said. "I'm very interested in tracking attitudes before and after the Super Bowl" to see if the ad campaign had an effect.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/10/30/census.html?sid=101

[Why Syzygy]

1. "track the phenomenon"

It is due to the Patriot Act! D-U-H!
US citizens tended to believe that "secure in my possessions" bit that's been popular for 200+ years.

[Peace Patriot]

2. You're so right! nt