June 21, 2004
ANONYMITY ISN'T PRIVACY:
High Court Rules on Police ID Requests: Decision Sides With Nev. Law That Requires Compliance (Gina Holland, June 21, 2004, The Associated Press)
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that people do not have a constitutional right to refuse to tell police their names.The 5-4 decision frees the government to arrest and punish people who won't cooperate by revealing their identity.
The decision was a defeat for privacy rights advocates who argued that the government could use this power to force people who have done nothing wrong, other than catch the attention of police, to divulge information that may be used for broad data base searches.
Pretty strange to argue that a constitution that mandates a census entitles you to hide your identity. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 21, 2004 5:25 PM
Pretty amazing that the Court decided that the Census Bureau can ask you all the weird questions it does.
Every decade, I put down my name, birthplace and birthdate and address and mark the rest of it: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at June 21, 2004 7:04 PMLast time around, the poor guy who came to the door to find out why I hadn't filled ours out left empty handed. I mentioned that the Department of Defense, the SEC, the IRS and the Social Security Administration had more than ample information about me and my family to complete a census.
In lieu of consulting their records, I gave him the choice of giving me an official US Census web address at which to choose which information I'd be willing to report or opening a work order with a $100 retainer for my time if he must insist it be done in person on paper. Unfortunately, neither option worked for him. Me either.
Posted by: John Resnick at June 21, 2004 8:53 PMThis is one of those issues that only comes up because we're a rich stable nation with (we think) nothing serious to worry about.
Posted by: David Cohen at June 21, 2004 9:47 PMOrrin, what is really strange is that four justices actually disagreed and thought that refusing to reveal your identity was okay.
John, doesn't the fact that the Census Bureau could not fill out your census form further prove that there is not one gigantic database with everyone's information? Don't be too paranoid.
Posted by: Vince at June 21, 2004 10:03 PMVince: Not paranoid, just annoyed. ANY ONE of those databases would have satisfied the basic information necessary to complete a census. The fact that the census bureau thinks it's entitled to additional information is, in my view, moot.
Posted by: at June 21, 2004 10:11 PMExcept that the IRS' information is confidential. You may not believe it, but it is.
Posted by: jsmith at June 22, 2004 6:33 AMjsmith, ha, ha, ha. So are the FBI raw files.
Posted by: Uncle Bill at June 22, 2004 9:31 AM