Spying on Private Lives

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Wednesday May 03, 2006 11:36

by John Fairfax

Boycott the Census

You can understand why government might want to quantify the demographic and social circumstances of the population. Without statistical data it would be impossible to allocate resources appropriately.

But why do they need this information?

The names and addresses of people filling in the form/living at the property

The name of their employers and place of work

"In the last four weeks have you done any of the following activities without pay?
Tick ALL the boxes that apply.

Helping or voluntary work with a social or charitable organisation
Helping or voluntary work with a religious group or church
Helping or voluntary work with a sporting organistion
Helping or voluntary work with a political or cultural organisation
[nicely tucked away, isn't it?]
Any other voluntary activity
No voluntary activity"

Is there a legitimate statistical purpose for which the government would want to know whether someone is voluntarily involved in political activity? It would be nice for McDowell, for instance, if he could pinpoint exactly who all the 'trouble makers' are, wouldnt it? What statistical use is an individual's name and address, what relevance can it possibly have for anybody elese? And their place of employment? Who needs to know that? Put them together with the information that someone is politically active and it makes the job of locating your opponents (aka 'subversives' where McDowell is concerned.)

The form states that the confidentiality of the census return is legally guaranteed by the Statistics Act, 1993. However, what it does not discuss is how that Act stands in relation to the agreements signed by McDowell and others in respect of so-called 'anti-terorist' agreements, with the USA for example. Does anyone believe for one second that if ordered to, the statistical office will not immediately open its database on any individual that the state would like to silence or otherwise investigate behind the scenes, for political or other purposes? All the government has to say is that they have 'reasonable grounds' to suspect that someone may be a 'threat'. Those 'reasonable grounds' could very well be the simple fact of having ticked the 'I've been politically active' box on your census return.

Every form is individually numbered so that the state can tell exactly who has and has not filled it in. There is a county code, an Enumeration Area Code, an ED Code, Street/Townland Code and, finally, a D. No which is the one that identifes you/your family. There is nothing anonymous or confidential about it at all.

On pointing out to the census form collector that many of the census questions didnt correspond to any identifiable statistical purpose he could only say that I would be prosecuted if I didn't fill it in. This is state intimidation. We no longer have privacy where the state is concerned - they've got our number literally. Fascism is around the next corner, folks.