The Census and Privacy
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Last month I filled out the census form sent by the US government. Mandated by the Constitution and used to determine things like the number of Congressional members for each state and the division of federal funds, it’s important to get as many people counted as possible. (In fact, based on the 2000 census, my home state of Colorado qualified for an extra House member, bringing our total up to nine.)
But some people refused to fill out the form, citing privacy concerns. The requested information was minimal, but it still goes beyond the “Enumeration” required by the Constitution, asking for such things as your name and ethnicity. When responding to privacy issues, census officials always refer to the laws prohibiting release of census data until 70 years have passed. But these officials seem to forget it’s the government that made those laws, and the government can always change them should the need arise. The Constitution has no provisions for the privacy of census data.
In fact, something along these lines occurred in 1941. Four days after the Pearl Harbor attack, the government used Census data to help round up Americans of Japanese descent, who were placed in internment camps. More recently, the Census Bureau compiled reports of Americans of Arab descent for use by Homeland Security. (They gave population by city and ZIP code.)
So the net result is that census privacy can be broken, given sufficient cause. Does this mean you shouldn’t fill out the form? You’ll have to determine the answer for that one yourself.
Here’s an alternative to burying nuclear waste in the ground for thousands of years. Scientists in France and Texas are developing technologies to destroy the the radioactive by-products of nuclear power plants. The article isn’t clear about the method used by the French scientists, but the researchers in Texas are working on a hybrid fusion/fission reactor.
Here are some really neat pictures of the recent eruption of Iceland’s 
I’ve never put much thought into what it take to repossess commercial airplanes. The linked article is about Nick Popovich and his repo company, 
For those of us who haven’t been involved in warfare, the video in the linked article shows details of an actual combat operation in Iraq. Note that although the video is heavily slanted toward a certain point of view, Chad’s News has no opinion on the matter and is only posting this link because it gives insight into a world hidden from most people.
Can’t figure out what to buy for the geek in your life? Consider this wall hanger that looks like an 8-bit pointer.
The linked article explains how to replace the firmware in your low-cost router, transforming it into a full-featured device. The author used 
Here’s an interesting trick. Many web browsers support the entry of 
The linked article lists how much cable companies pay, per subscriber, for the various channels they carry. Notice the huge gap between #1 (ESPN: $4.08) and #3 (TNT: $0.99). Seeing all that money go for unused channels in package deals reminds me why I’m in favor of an 
The linked article has an embedded video showing what happened when the author gave an iPad to his two-year-old daughter. Her proficiency is almost scary, which says something very good about Apple’s ability to design user interfaces.
Hoping to skip the long lines at the bank, two would-be robbers called ahead, declared their intention to rob the bank, and told the bank to have their money ready when they arrived. Ten minutes later they showed up at the bank, performed the robbery, and were promptly arrested in the parking lot by waiting police.