An acquaintance says he is working for US government as a special census taker, using a provided list of names he must ask intrusive and private questions and is told to "not take no for an answer" He reports failure to answer the questions results in large fines. Is there such a thing as "special census" taker and are citizens required to answer personal information such as their finances?

I work for the Census Bureau as a temporary employee and this guy sounds like a fraud. In my area we are listing addresses, not asking anything personal, except things like how many residential units might be contained in one building, or whether a building is being used as a residence. A census employee will have a plastic ID card with the Census logo on it, not something printed up on a computer. The personal questions are supposed to come next year when forms are mailed out to addresses. Ask to see the guys ID, I bet he doesn't have one. It looks like a white credit card. Yes I understand that there are legal sanctions for not complying with the Census, but it was never explained to me as to what they were. If someone didn't comply, we filed a report. Ask the guy if he know what an INFO-COMM is. That is the form we use to report non-compliance and other problems encountered while doing the census.

A person is required to return the census form, but only to the point that they state how many people live in the household. I have never filled out anything past that point, and mail it in.

I refuse to talk to anyone asking questions at the door,

ACORN is going around doing a census because they are trying to get houses GPS and smart gridded.
I have heard that people are telling them to get off their property.
It isn't the official 2010 census but they want people to think it is.

It is so they can get on with the mandatory brown shirt thing Obama is going after.

http://www.desertconservative.com/20...-to-a-reality/

No help why would a house need GPS? There aren't to many house that aren't in the same place they were yesterday.

Oops I meant an RFID

AHHHH Now that is different!!

Not filling out a U.S. census form completely will cause an enumerator to come knocking at your door. I did that in the last census. It's a waste of taxpayer money and causes statistical inaccuracies for things like federal money allocations.

Jim what happens if you never answer the door when the enumerator comes knocking.

Well they would send someone else out there at a later time and eventually would report the inability to contact anyone at that address to the higher-ups and they take it from there. I never got involved in that kind of stuff. From what I understand they don't push it very hard.

Yeah I did the door to door census in 1990 and 2000. I got paid really good to keep going back knocking on peoples doors. I didn't really pressure people if they didn't want to answer, but they send a higher up to get the info if they want more.
They threaten to fine you but they only usually fine you if they want to make an example out of you.

I was looking forward to doing it again this time around but I am not so sure I want to because of it being used for the RFID and smart grid this time around. I am sure that whoever they don't get with this ACORN census they will follow up with the official census.

Yeah I know a lot of people who refuse to fill out the census information or they lie on the form. I never had to fill one out is that because I rent?

No renters are suppose to fill them out too.

Well the last census was 2000 I think, I was just finishing college and I was doing a lot of couch surfing so that would explain why I never filled one out.

The Census Bureau is supposed to send a form to every residential unit in the country. I have visited many, many apartments and homes that were rented to verify the fact that they are residences so that the forms can be sent there.

Cool I look forward to getting a form next year. You have no idea how bad I want to get called for juror duty.

If you get a long form in the mail (American Community Survey) from the Census Bureau you will be required to answer very personal questions including specific questions about your finances, health, sex, race, education and living situation. The long form comes with a threat in bold print.