Names Compulsory on the 2016 Census

[Turd Ferguson]

Privacy advocates are calling on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) not to collect names of individuals in next month's census, due to privacy concerns.

For the first time, the ABS will keep Australians' names and addresses on file for four years instead of 18 months.

Meanwhile, it has emerged the ABS has been using people's names and addresses to cross-reference data with records kept by other Australian departments since 2006.

Before this, they were largely used for administrative purposes, to ensure everyone completed the census.

The revelations have prompted concern on talkback radio and social media, with some people declaring they will boycott the census because of the changes.

The Australian Privacy Foundation is calling on the ABS to stop using people's names for data analysis.

"We all gave our names in good faith, thinking they'd be deleted," said the foundation's vice-chair Kat Lane.

"We've now since found out they're not being deleted at all, they're being stored and made into unique identifiers.

"We don't want the ABS to have very sensitive personal details like names. We want them to be deleted."

Security 'highest priority' for ABS

Head of Census with the ABS, Duncan Young said there was wide consultation with the public before the changes this year.

He said extending the amount of time that names were kept on file to four years would give the ABS more time to carry out its work.

"The ABS has consulted widely on these changes we're making in 2016 and we know by making these changes we can further enrich the lives of Australians by helping governments make better choices," Mr Young said.

Since 2006, 5 per cent of respondents have been tracked from census to census, to analyse changes over time.

Mr Young said people's names were replaced with "anonymising" computer codes by computers collating census data, and that no workers ever saw names connected with personal information.

"The security of ABS systems is one of our highest priorities, so we've worked very hard to make sure there are many layers of security in place," he said.

'Invasion of privacy'

But former Australian statistician and head of the ABS, Bill McLennan, believes the changes are illegal.

He said that under the Census Act, Australians were not compelled by law to provide their names to the ABS.

"I think it's a significant invasion of privacy, and the ABS shouldn't do it," he said.

Anyone who does not complete the census or is found to have answered dishonestly, faces a fine under the Census Act.

The head of The Statistical Society of Australia, Dr John Henstridge, said he did not believe the ABS did enough to consult with the community.

"I think it probably needed more of a publicity campaign about this and being a bit more open," he said.

"If people don't want to cooperate with the census because they are concerned about how the data might be used then that is a real concern."

The 2016 census will be held on August 9.

I will be fishing in international waters that night. Bugger.

 

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

Nothing to hide, nothing to worry about. Pretty simple.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Tell that to the Jews back in WW2

 

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

Tell that to the Jews back in WW2

LOL! Really? Are you really comparing collecting statistics to the holocaust? :rofl:

 

[c2105026]

My details are all recorded in a lot of databases everywhere already.... Yawn....

 

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

My details are all recorded in a lot of databases everywhere already.... Yawn....

Hey dude! We agree on something! LOL!!!

 

[Sabbath']

LOL! Really? Are you really comparing collecting statistics to the holocaust? :rofl:

Götz Aly and Karl Heinz Roth: The Nazi Census

 

[thestig]

Hey dude! We agree on something! LOL!!!

Obviously neither of you have really had to deal with the ABS up close and personal. You should consider yourselves lucky. It is not pretty. This particulary organisation has been grated sweeping legal powers that can not be interpreted, by any reasonable person, as anything other than a gross invasion of one's right to privacy.

Look up Labor Force Survey or Monthly Population Survey. During these ABS field agents will tell you they have been granted the legal right to physically invade your home and conduct probing personal interviews, demanding copies of all sorts of confidential documentation. And they don't do this just once, but 8 times over 8 consecutive months. If you are unlucky enough to be "randomly selected" for such things, whatever you do, don't question their conduct or motives. They get quite aggressive on both interpersonal and legal levels.

And the point that Mr Ferguson is making and you are missing, is you have no control over who uses the information you provide. You are being asked to trust thousands of government employees, any one of which may have their own agendas. Or what about changes of Government, let's say a few years down the track we get a right wing party in power that decides it's going to eliminate people simply because they may hold beliefs, have genetic traits, or a skill sets they find "problematic"?

What if a foreign power was to obtain access?

Think of the consequences..... Alas, perhaps I am asking too much of you, it's obvious to those that do, that you do not. Think that is.

 

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

And the point that Mr Ferguson is making and you are missing, is you have no control over who uses the information you provide.

Sooooo... You trust Facebook, Instagram, your Telco or ISP, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, (insert any smart phone app here), LinkedIn, Skype, Netflix, Foxtel, Australia Post, your local postie, your bank, your insurance companies, Ticketek, eBay, PayPal, Gumtree, Online forums, your employer, your friends, your family, your car dealer or wherever you get your car serviced, your real estate agent, your landlord, the Department of Education, Medicare, your GP, your local council, your water/electricity/gas company, the Australian Electoral Commission, etc, etc, I could go on and on... But you don't trust the ABS? Pffffffffffft... There are countless organisations out there that have many more personal details than the ABS ever will. And I'd bet any one of my houses on there being a few that you have absolutely no clue about.

Wake up. Think about ALLLLLLL the places your details already are, and how much you take it for granted and don't give a ****.

But because you see some sensationalist headline about the census you are suddenly concerned about who is collecting your personal details and what they'll do with them? Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaha!

:rofl:

And for the record, no civilian can legally enter your home by force without your permission. Only emergency services can and even then only if they have reasonably grounds to justify it. Anything else is at best trespassing, at worst break and enter. Being from Canberra, I have friends who work or have worked for the ABS. They are simply a bunch of number crunching pubes (the common name for public servants in Canberra).

 

[thestig]

Sooooo... You trust Facebook, Instagram, your Telco or ISP, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, (insert any smart phone app here), LinkedIn, Skype, Netflix, Foxtel, Australia Post, your local postie, your bank, your insurance companies, Ticketek, eBay, PayPal, Gumtree, Online forums, your employer, your friends, your family, your car dealer or wherever you get your car serviced, your real estate agent, your landlord, the Department of Education, Medicare, your local council, your water/electricity/gas company, etc, etc, I could go on and on... But you don't trust the ABS? Pffffffffffft... There are countless organisations out there that have many more personal details than the ABS ever will. And I'd bet any one of my houses on there being a few that you have absolutely no clue about.

Wake up. Think about ALLLLLLL the places your details already are, and how much you take it for granted and don't give a ****.

But because you see some sensationalist headline about the census you are suddenly concerned about who is collecting your personal details and what they'll do with them? Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaha!

:rofl:

And for the record, no civilian can legally enter your home by force without your permission. Only emergency services can and even then only if they have reasonably grounds to justify it. Anything else is at best trespassing, at worst break and enter. Being from Canberra, I have friends who work or have worked for the ABS. They are simply a bunch of number crunching pubes (the common name for public servants in Canberra).

I trust no one you dumb fùck! Such a presumptive asshole you are...

A lot of what you mentioned above I don't use. What I do is make a judgement call based on the pros and cons, ie risk level of information provided against reward of using the service or product.

For example, seeing as you brought them up......

Facebook: No upside what so ever so it gets zero information. Not even a single IP packet to their servers. In using it you may as well send a written invitation to every demented sociopath on the planet to come jerk off all over your children.

Instagram: see above

Telco & ISP: In work's name, work pays, no personal information provided aside from the service delivery address in the case of the landline.

Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung etc: See above plus VPN.

Linked In: see facebook

Skype: see Google etc plus Telco

Foxtel, Netflix etc: does anyone think there is an upside here? Doesn't do anything that torrents and vpn can't do more effectively with less risk. Oh yeah.. and it's free!

Australia Post: Service address and name, rarely used. Often delivered to work.

Local Postie: Definite Theif, wouldn't cross the road to piss on him.

Bank: Unavoidable if I want anything but cash. Doesn't mean I give them any more than I have to, and I definitely don't trust them.

Insurance: don't have any

Ticketek: don't use, my entertainment comes to me

eBay: business details only. Less than zero trust. currently plotting the murder of the entire board of directors.

Paypal: see eBay

Gumtree: do I appear homeless?

Online forums: Are anonymous. Kind of the whole point of this thread... Derr! :doh:

My employer: trusted as far as I like, only to pay me what I am owed and nothing more.

Friends and family: you are neither shíthead so.... none of your fùcking business.

Car dealer: never would trust them.

Car service: do it myself

Real estate agent (malignant land rat): don't even like them, let alone trust them. Never used them.

Landlord: don't have one

DoE: On my hitlist.

Medicare: minimal details provided in order to obtain free medical stuff... Obvious pros.

Local council: don't trust, avoid like plague. The self entitled cùnts know where I live, can't be helped.

Utilities: see telcos and ISP

ABS: They don't just want my name and address they wish to summarize my entire life, store it and cross reference it for who knows what. And there is absolutely no upside for me. Almost everything else above is my choice. ABS are attempting to force me to hand over information, no freedom of choice. As far as I am concerned THEY GET NOTHING!