Census Reply - Finally

The Task Force report can be found <a href="http://www22.statcan.ca/ccr07/ccr07_007_e.htm">here</a>. <br><br> <blockquote>Even though the contractors are subject to Canadian federal laws, specifically the Statistics Act, which prohibits any court or law enforcement agency anywhere from obtaining information collected through the Census</blockquote> Ha ha ha! I can see it now ... <br><br> "But Mr. President, I'm sorry, we simply cannot demand under the Patriot Act that Lockheed Martin and IBM hand over the Canadian census data because its against Canadian law!" <br><br> With such a glaring demonstration of gross incompetence on the part of Statistics Canada, how can we ever trust them? <br><br> <blockquote> to alleviate confidentiality and privacy concerns Statistics Canada opted in 2004 to "de-scope" the contract. These modifications removed items #5 to #8 from the contract with Lockheed Martin Canada and its subcontractors, restricting the contract to the provision of systems hardware and software, services associated with these areas, and printing (i.e., items #1 to #4).</blockquote> <br><br> In other words, Statistics Canada was indeed going to hand over the census data to the US government. How can we ever trust them? <br><br> <blockquote> For example, there were fears that the hardware and software the contractors were supplying could contain a "back door" such as a computer worm or virus that might enable U.S. authorities to secretly access Census information about Canadians.</blockquote> <br><br> Unless the hardware and software is made open for public inspection, we cannot be certain that there is no back door. Look at the mess the US voting machines represent as an example of what can go wrong. <br><br> With respect to the "lie" that the data processing is NOT connected to the internet, technically that is true, but very misleading. <br><br> Stats Canada appears to be making a distinction between <i>data collection</i> and <i>data processing</i>, whereby the processing is not connected to external networks, but some of the data collection is (the on-line portion). <br><br> I read this misleading claim as an attempt to fool the public into thinking that all of the census data is disconnected from external networks. With Stats Canada obviously trying to fool us, how can we ever trust them? <br><br> With respect to the claims that the printing and data collection are being operated by contractors, Stats Can claims no such thing is being done since the contract was revised. This may be true, however it is unclear what the printing part involves, and we're left with making assumptions that is could just be the blank census forms, or it could be the forms with data on it. <br><br> From my point of view, the whole thing about LM and the Patriot Act is not the main issue at all. What should be of the most concern to us, is the fact that responding to the census is made madatory by law, with harsh penalties of 3 months in prison and $500 fines - which can in theory amount to bankruptcy and a life sentence should you hold steady and continue to refuse! <br><br> Because the census is mandated by law, Stats Canada can abuse its position by hiring US war criminals and allowing the data to be shared outside of its intended scope. It can aso ask increasingly intrusive (and seemingly unnecessary) questions with impunity (for example, the question is asked "who do you share your bed with by name" through the relationships portion and the question asking for the full name of each person). <br><br> Stats Can does not answer directly to the public and we cannot vote on any issue with respect to how Stats Can operates, leaving us only with the option to break the law and face being exposed to unlimited fines and prison time (if you hold steady and continue to refuse). <br><br> If the census was truely voluntary, the whole issue about data security and use of war criminals would NOT EVER surface. <br><br> The science of statistics by definition does NOT require 100% sample sizes, therefore a voluntary census would work just fine for all Canadians (but won't work well for those hidden agendas that make use of the increasingly intrusive data). <br><br> The fact is, we're going to have to boycott the next cenus, and the next one after that, and so on, until the mandatory nature of the census is finally repealed. Nothing else will be a permanent solution.

True, True, True, points well put!

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Perception is two thirds of what we perceive reality to be.

Difficult decisions are a privilege of rank.

Statistics Canada has taken a number of important safeguards to protect the privacy and confidentiality of census responses<<

AND that's what worries me the most. Harper & his government uses Canadians as his own personal toilet paper and we are to trust a department under "the New Government". Harper who gives freely everything and everything to the Americans and we are to blindly trust. Harper who believes that all actions of his government are on "a need to know only basis" and a protégé of George Bush. Sure, we can trust a department controled and operated by his government. I think I'll die, just to support the Liberals.

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Expect little from life and get more from it.

I'ts time for us to all be sporting a bumper sticker 'leave the americans out of it'

really;, i'm sick of the bull in the china shop

Received in the story submission Queue:<p> <blockquote> Contributed by: Anonymous<p> I would like to address concerns regarding 2006 Census data confidentiality, raised by PatM as posted on your website on September 29th. With respect to the census paper questionnaires, Transcontinental Printing Canada printed blank questionnaires with only coding and addressing information at their plants in Montreal and Toronto. These blank questionnaires were subsequently mailed (urban areas) or hand-delivered (rural areas) to all households in Canada. <p> The handling of the coding and address information was under the oversight of on-site Statistics Canada staff at the print facilities. The security of the printing facilities and the staff, along with the hardware and software used to print the questionnaires were approved by Public Works CIISD (need to get the long form of this acronym), and by Statistics Canada IT security experts.<p> All responses (paper and internet) were returned directly to Statistics Canada's highly secure Data Processing Centre in Gatineau, Quebec. At no time was any contractor in possession of completed Census responses or had access to systems containing confidential responses.<p> With regards to the provision of an internet option, firstly no contractor was responsible for operating any servers. Servers containing any confidential responses were housed and supported by Statistics Canada staff exclusively at Statistics Canada facilities in Ottawa, and connections to the web were through a series of firewalls and air-gap devices which provide physical separation between Statistics Canada's confidential network and any external devices or networks. Part of the independent validation of the secure infrastructure included penetration testing by IT security specialists, trained in hacking techniques, who were unable to access any of our systems. The efforts and results of the independent security specialists was guided and overseen by a Task Force headed up by the former Auditor General of Canada, Mr. Denis Desautels. They concluded that “Canadians can trust that the information gathered during the 2006 Census will be secure.”<p> Statistics Canada takes its responsibility to protect the security and confidentiality of Census data very seriously and as a result, implements stringent measures to provide the necessary assurances and independent validation that Canadians demand.<p> Thank You<br> D. Johnston<br> 2006 Census<br> Statistics Canada</blockquote><p>---<br>"I think it's important to always carry enough technology to restart civilization, should it be necessary." Mark Tilden<br />

Well, its nice to see that people at Census Canada take this issue seriously enough to reply right away - unlike the offices of the ministers responsible.

However, it still avoids the questions.

First, its nice that a Canadian company was given the contract to print the blank forms but it still doesn't describe LMs printing activities - and we know LM was printing things because the Census Canada press release listed that as one of the four things they were providing.

Second, the reply makes it sound like LM had nothing to do with the online census data gathering. Yet we lockheed martin IS involved - just not directly involved with the software that actually collects online census data. Unless, of course, statistics canada can show that no LM people ever have access to the online machines, they LM must be considered to have complete access to all data gathered online.

The assurances of network safety and security are empty really. Who provided the hardware and software that is protecting the data? Was it lockheed martin, the company that contracts itself out as expert at torturing prisoners for the US government? Who were the people doing the actual security testing? We know that Diebold and the government "experts" certified all their voting machines as secure but independent third party investigation shows they were designed to be absolutely NOT secure - with up to four alternate boot-up configurations built in and rapid-reprogramming ports so the entire machine could be re-programmed in a flash.

No, the minute the US military was contracted to hold our census the census became nothing more than a US intelligence operation - part and parcel with the north american union conspiracy.

Oh and why do I say its the US military? Well, the US courts have deemed lockheed martin to be one and the same as the US military under law. I'll see if I can find that judgement and post it here. Its been a few years since I saw that little gem.

I'd love to see D. Johnston (or anyone from Stats Can) address my concerns, almost all of which have been entirely avoided. I think Johnston only addressed the questions related to security. Statistics Canada has NEVER addressed any concerns over using US war criminals as contractors, nor has it EVER addressed the dubious need to ask questions such as the nature of relationships between persons in the household, or why the census HAS to be 100% complete (etc). <br><br> As for the data NOT physically being connected to the internet, it is true that one could physically disconnect the internal network from the data collection servers, however obviously the servers that captured census data on-line were physically connected to the internet in the sense that the data had to travel from a users computer through the internet to one of the data collection servers. From a data collection server, data could be transfered to a physically separated network as soon as it arrived, therefore leaving the data on the collection server for only a short period of time. <br><br> The fact is that Stats Can made the following claim which was only partially true, and therefore potentially misleading: <br><br> <a href="http://www22.statcan.ca/ccr01/ccr01_004_e.htm">Census data are stored on Statistics Canada systems that are isolated from any other network. External connections such as telephone dial-in services are not available to Statistics Canada's systems where confidential data are stored; therefore it is impossible to break into Statistics Canada's databases.</a> <br><br> But who cares about "security" anyway when foreign war criminals are being hired on as contractors. Significant moral issues aside, how can we ever trust a war criminal with anything? How can we trust an organization that would even consider hiring war criminals, let alone actually doing it despite advanced warning made crystal clear through public protest? <br><br> And who cares about "security" when should anyone even legitimately object to a census question, or object to the use of foreign war criminals as contractors, that they become labeled as criminals <a href="http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/news/nr/2001/doc_28217.html">(and possibly even as "terrorists" depending on how the letter of the law is applied)</a> by the government? <br><br> Stats Can may have the "law" on its side, but it does NOT have the publics trust as witnessed by a record high refusal rate, and who knows how many "minimally cooperated" and falsified census forms were submitted in protest. <br><br> Will Stats Can tell us exactly how many cenus criminals/terrorists there now are in Canada? I bet that's one statistic we'll never hear about from Stats Can.

"The contract with Lockheed Martin Canada, IBM Canada and Transcontinental Printing Canada, which was awarded by PWGSC following a stringent, open and competitive manner, is strictly for the provision of hardware, software and printing services."

Are we to assume by this comment that LM underbid the competition? Since when does a military contractor bid on anything? And if they did submit a low bid, why? Why is a military contractor being used to gather this information? Why the intrusive questions?

“Canadians can trust that the information gathered during the 2006 Census will be secure.”

Secure from who? The big bad hackers out there? Trust a traitor politician that sold out his constituents??? Ha! Ha!

Basically, the census was a witch hunt implemented and supported by the current conservative government. Their double talk response pretty much confirms that.

"When you hear there are many cherries to be picked, bring few baskets."

Add to that the fact that Stats Can was made well aware that hiring LM was a very bad idea that would cause many to protest. Why was it so important to hire LM despite knowing it would mess up the 2006 census and beyond?

reargaurd,

"Will Stats Can tell us exactly how many cenus criminals/terrorists there now are in Canada? I bet that's one statistic we'll never hear about from Stats Can."

Yes that is "one" statistic that I did willingly contribute to so when do I get the answer to that? That being the ONLY statistic they can report with 100% accuracy!

Whenever I hear a statistic going out over the media I wonder how it is that StatsCan in all good conscience can put out sullied statistical data when they spent so much energy and tax dollars on trying to FORCE us into believing that they need 100% compliance? We know they do not get 100% compliance. We know they get returns that are lies. This has not stopped them from forming statistics so making a law that requires full compliance has likely given them dirtier data than they would have if asking for volunteers.

And if they continue to use disreputable ways of getting the information (Lockheed Martin), they can expect every year to get even dirtier.

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"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Friedrich Nietzsche

Oh and I forgot one crucial point. I asked how Lockheed Martin could be considered to not have access to data when they are providing printing. Nothing was said in either response about that - instead, the second response told us that a different company was printing the blank forms. Was this meant to make us think LM was printing blank forms or does LM have no involvement with printing services at all? If they don't, why did earlier press releases say they were providing hardware, software, printers, and PRINTING?

Wednesday Oct 11.

I signed for a registered letter brought by the postman. From Statictics Canada. It has the appearance of being personally signed by Ivan Felligi, Chief Statistician, responsioble for the Census.

If you get a postman with a registered letter for you, you might not want to accept it.

The letter says:
- deadline to complete is Oct 27.
- after which it will be turned over to the Dept of Justice with the recommendation that charges be laid.

Ivan's email address is: Ivan.P.Felligi@statcan.ca

I will send Ivan an email before Oct 27, and post a copy of it here.

Best wishes to you all,
Sandra