Details may escape me, but IIRC summary points are:
- The Constitution authorizes a census, hence you are obligated to participate.
- The Constitution’s census is a mere headcount, nothing more.
- For practical purposes, that headcount may sensibly be associated with an address.
- To wit: you are obligated to answer how many people live at your address at the date of the census (temporaries included, it’s a total headcount at a given time). As it is related to voting, and voting has an age restriction, it’s also reasonable to differentiate between count of adults and children.
- No other questions match the Constitutional purpose.
- Answers to any other questions are public information. If anything is allegedly “privacy protected by law”, remember that a stroke of a pen can make it public - and can then be used against you.
- 5th Amendment: right to silence. You don’t know how this information may be used against you.
- 4th Amendment: if they want that information, they can get a search warrant.
- Some information can be gathered just by observation. By showing up at your house, they can pigeonhole your race, age range, and other observables & inferences.
After the last census, a counter parked on the side of the road at my house waiting for me to come home. He tried to pry more info out of me, but I stated (in an agitated tone, as a complete stranger was attempting to invade my privacy under color of law) that I had answered the questions required by the Constitution. He got the point and left immediately.
The fact that this guy managed to talk to you for HALF AN HOUR does not bode well. I’d have restated “I have answered the questions required by the Constitution, now get off my property” and called 911 within half a minute. At best the guy isn’t there to debate, he’s there to gather info he has no right to; at worst, he’s casing your house or building a legal case against you (”anything you say can and will be used against you...”).
At worst, they can fine you $100 (or is it $500 now?). That’s a manageable amount; $10-50/yr for privacy is worth it. I’ve never heard of anyone actually being fined. If I’m chosen for such punishment, I’ll consult a lawyer and (most likely) pay the fine (to avoid other cumulative legal problems _and_ to establish standing & damages) and proceed to sue for rights violations and compensation for damages.
The census, per the Constitution, is necessary for establishing an orderly process of voting (drawing precincts, assigning representatives, etc.). The number of toilets in my home, the racial characteristics of residents, and my income bracket do NOT contribute to that Constitutionally established process. Insofar as that information is assuredly “protected and private”, remember that census data was used (IIRC) to round up Japanese-Americans in WWII for involuntary and extra-judicial incarceration in internment camps ... and that a whole lotta celebrities just found out how “protected and private” their computer-stored private data (pictures) were.
Of course, refusing to answer is, itself, categorical data which can and will be used against you. Lose-lose.
Thanks.
He was mostly trying to sell his right to interview me, and not taking "no" for an answer...he never actually asked any questions.
I never threated him, but told him repeatedly that two people lived here and that's all I was going to tell him.
I was still smokin' when I went over to the neighbors and delivered a tirade, telling them what just happened. They were aghast and thanked me for the heads up. I could hear them all PO'd talking to each other in the kitchen as I walk back home.