By Jeremy Peppas
Stephens Media

LITTLE ROCK — With the April 1 start date looming, the Census Bureau is taking steps to protect people’s private information.

The form canvassers will use contains just 10 questions, ranging from the person’s name filling out the questionnaire to racial identifiers, but security experts and census officials say the completed forms will contain enough personal information to be a payday for scam artists.

“It has the person’s name and birthday,” said Dennis Johnson, a regional director for the Census Bureau who oversees six states, including Arkansas. “That can be enough, so we are telling people to be cautious with how they handle the form.”

Johnson said the easiest way to avoid problems is to complete and mail the form in as soon as possible.

A 30-year veteran of census-taking, Johnson said concerns about privacy have not changed over the years.

“We didn’t call it identity theft. That wasn’t really a term then, but we have always had concerns about scams. People trying to take advantage of the census,” he said.

Mandated by the Constitution, the goal of the decennial census is to get a count of everyone living in the United States. The count is then used, among other things, to set congressional districts and determine how much federal aid is received at the municipal level.

For example, North Little Rock officials estimate each person counted in the 2010 census will be worth about $10,000 in federal money to the city over the next 10 years.

In the Internet age, the Census Bureau, along with law enforcement and security experts, have increased concerns about electronic efforts to steal information.

“It is called phishing,” Mike Prusinski, who works for LifeLock, a company partnered with the Census Bureau to protect people from identity theft.

“(Phishers) will send out millions of e-mails,” he said. “This country has 300 million people, so if just 1 percent or half of 1 percent responded, they have more than enough.”

The North Little Rock Police Department is to begin an awareness campaign this week covering both electronic efforts and more common sense approaches to protecting personal information, police spokesman Sgt. Terry Kuykendall said.

“A lot of it is common sense, but these things will protect you,” Prusinski said.
They include mailing the completed census form at once and from a post office.

“People steal mail,” he said. “If you just put the letter in your mailbox and raise the flag, people will know you have mail in it and it could be taken.”

Experts also advise that if a census worker comes to your home, ask to see two forms of identification. Every census worker will be issued an identification card, and a driver’s license also will do, Prusinski said.

He also noted that census workers who come to a residence will not ask for Social Security numbers, financial information or money.