[108077] in Cypherpunks
Re: Census data sold to advertisers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tim May)
Wed Feb 3 14:24:30 1999
In-Reply-To: <19990203110619.A23625@weathership.homeport.org>
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 09:44:30 -0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Reply-To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
At 8:06 AM -0800 2/3/99, Adam Shostack wrote:
>On Tue, Feb 02, 1999 at 11:36:05AM -0800, Tim May wrote:
>
>| Some Census ladies knocked on my door last week. They wanted to ask about
>| how many rooms, bathrooms, etc. my house had, and how many people lived at
>| my house. I told them I thought that's what the census _next year_ is
>| about, to count heads. (But not bathrooms, bedrooms, etc.)
>
>
> I was recently called by the National Crime Vicitmization
>Survey. I refused to answer any questions, saying that the only crimes
>I was aware of in my area were committed by Uncle Sam. However, it
>occured to me that there is a (probably illegal, although I sure
>didn't swear to tell the truth) opportunity to add interesting crime
>stories, such as being harrassed by the cops, defensive gun use, etc
>to shift the terms of the debate by shifting the numbers.
>
> I'm wondering if anyone has any other interesting ideas for
>monkeywrenching?
>
During the official census, declare one to be African-American.
(My ancestors came from there.)
And completely seriously, what is the recourse if one claims something like
this? Does the U.S. have a Department of Racial Purity to make evaluations
of whether 1/8 Negroid blood makes one an official "African-American," or
whether 1/8 European blood makes one an Aryan, er, Caucasian?
In 1990 I declared my race to be "Terran" or "human," I forget exactly
which (and didn't keep a copy). The census lady last week told me she
agreed with my objections to the race part, and that she had written
"human" on her '90 form.
Well, if both of us can "get away" (as opposed to on IRS forms) with this,
why not with writing "African-American" because of our distant ancestors?
My current thinking is just to ignore the census takers. I can't imagine
I'll be opening the door to too many knockers in '00.
--Tim May
Y2K -- Where were you when the lights went out?
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments.
