Big Brother's Prying Eyes

click here for Census 2000 -- Tool for Socialist State Building

From the Christian Science Monitor (links cost $):

Census's most invasive question isn't about toilets	2000-05-09	[TEXT]	[WITH GRAPHICS]
Laurent Belsie St. Louis - This spring, while most Americans were filling out the short census form, 21,000 households received a special form with an extra question. It was a test to see if Americans would voluntarily write in their Social Security numbers. Supporters call the experiment a worthy trial of new data-gathering methods. And many Americans, who regularly give their Social Security numbers to store clerks and government officials, may see nothing ominous in such requests. But cri... (817 words)

National ID = Naive Idea	2000-05-09	[TEXT]	[WITH GRAPHICS]
Federal and state officials have plenty of reasons to give every American an ID number. It would make their work more effective, whether it's nabbing illegal immigrants or issuing a driver's license. But a national identity tag based on Social Security numbers could also assist crooks, snoops, marketeers, errant law officers, and many others - especially in the Age of the Internet. With increasing abuse of private information - including "identity theft" - it can no longer be argued that tho... (254 words)

Mapping a nation one step at a time	2000-05-09	[TEXT]	[WITH GRAPHICS]
Laurent Belsie, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor St. Louis - For Melissa Daugherty, Census 2000 begins in a downstairs room of the Hazelwood Recreation Center in suburban St. Louis. It's her second day of training, and she and nine colleagues are practicing asking questions. Practicing questions? "There's a lot of 'sales' involved," explains Forrest Routh, the group's trainer. Unless census-takers show some self-confidence, "people ... aren't going to be responsive." For all it... (868 words)

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