Kip Tips
Protect Your Identity During the 2010 Census
Here's what you should expect when the government starts collecting information about your household next month.
By Cameron Huddleston, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger.com
February 1, 2010
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A friend sent me an e-mail that supposedly was from the Better Business Bureau with information about how to distinguish a legitimate census taker and a con artist. A quick check on BBB.org, however, revealed that the e-mail was a phony.
Although the e-mail I received didn't include links to any malicious Web sites or suspicious downloads, the BBB says that the information the e-mail contained wasn't entirely accurate. Here's what you should know about protecting your identity during the 2010 census, according to BBB.org and the U.S. Census Bureau:
In March every household should receive a ten-question census form with a postage-paid envelope. If you don't mail back the completed from, a census taker will visit your home to get responses to the ten questions. Census takers WILL NOT contact you by e-mail.
Neither the form nor the census taker will ask for sensitive personal information, such as your Social Security or credit-card number. You'll be asked for your name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, type of residence and number of people living with you. See a sample of the 2010 census form.
How to tell if a census taker is legitimate. Census takers will be knocking on doors from April to July 2010 of households that DID NOT return a census form. They must present an ID badge, which will have an expiration date and Department of Commerce watermark, and may be carrying a bag with a U.S. Census Bureau logo. They also must provide you with contact information for their supervisor or local census office if you ask. Census takers WILL NOT ask for donations or any sort of payment.
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Reader Comments (5)
Posted by: Tony at 02/01/2010 02:08:58 PM
I wonder how long it will take them to comprimize the information to outside sources after they have collected it. Other Gov agencies have lost laptops with personal information in it. If Acorn is involved they will sell the information.
Posted by: Bruce at 02/01/2010 11:06:23 PM
I will not answer the race/ethnicity questions...
Posted by: Michael Gardner at 02/02/2010 04:08:18 AM
What everyone should answer when asked their nationality is "American". The Constitution only requires an enumeration of people, not their races, genders, types of dwelling or how much they earn.
Posted by: Max at 02/03/2010 02:57:11 PM
How many years in jail will serve each scam artist of the "FAKE Census"? Census is Federal matter, so will be fakers served in Federal jail? Many people think that too soft jail terms are responsible for the fast crime increase in every country.
Posted by: John X at 03/08/2010 03:12:29 PM
I will NOT answer the US Census in 2010. I am tired of the government constantly classifying people according to "race." This is nothing more than an ongoing attempt to place people into a bureaucratic racial strata or hiearchy. What, for example, is "white?" I see no category for "Jewish" but yet anyone with a last name presumed to be of Spanish origin is called "Hispanic" or "Latino" even if they are, in fact, Native American or pure European. By-the-way, what is a "Hispanic" or a "Latino?" The same goes for this nebulous term, "African American." Is an Egyptian an "African American?" And yet, any group with political muscle is left to the presumed superior listing of "white." The US government does this time and time again and enough is enough. I will not participate in this subtle racism. They can send bureaucrats to my house but I will not play their game.