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Australian Census Stirs Up Storm of Privacy Concerns (buzzfeed.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Next week over 20 million Australians will take part in a mandatory government census. While such data-gathering exercises are usually uncontroversial, some significant changes to the process of collecting the 2016 data -- and in particular the way in which personally-identifying information will be retained for long periods (possibly indefinintely) -- have left many privacy advocates and others calling for a mass boycott. The Australian government's response has been to try to calm fears by promising that it will secure the census data, keep personally identifying data separate from statistical data, and only use each in a responsible way. It has, at the same time reminded Australian citizens that the fines for non-participation in the census have recently been radically increased (now $1800 for failure to submit a form; or $180/day for late submissions).Further reading: Australians threaten to take leave of their census.
Quote from Article: Australian Minister for Small Business Michael McCormack told reporters on Wednesday that there has “never been a breach of the actual census data, [and] the ABS assures us that this won’t happen into the future. They have assured me as the minister responsible, they’ve assured the government, that they have every protocol in place, every process in place to ensure that there isn’t a breach this time.” ^ That's how you incite someone to now break into it.
Fun fact: the US government doesn't even know how many people are citizens of the country.
People whine about how slow liberals are at throwing out illegals, but the fact of the matter is, unless you can positively match a person with a foreign visa or they admit it, it's impossible to prove a person is not a citizen. There is no database of citizens to reference.
You're aware that the census is legally mandated in the Constitution, right?
Of all the unjustified responses that will compel me to slap someone upside the head repeatedly, "Because we've always done it this way" comes out on top every time.
The most powerful single-word question in the known universe is Why, which my example exemplifies.