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Wednesday, February 28, 2001
By Arie Farnam Most of the controversy is concentrated on two issues. First, some politicians claim that the questions asked are too personal. Second, others complain that names, addresses and birth numbers are included in the census forms, making them theoretically traceable. Czechs are a very private people and they like to keep a firm divide between public and private life. Whatever the deep-seated sociological or cultural reasons, the population has developed a phobia about some very inane questions on forms. On Czech television, statisticians were recently grilled over questions such as "How many cars do you use?" and "Does your home have a flush toilet?" Both are commonly asked questions on census forms in other parts of the world and they are necessary for state agencies and the EU, not to mention the media, to put together a socioeconomic picture of the country and its regions. The second problem is a bit more serious. The census system is not supposed to leak information to advertising agencies, the tax authorities or the foreigners' police but, under the current system, leaks could easily occur. Because birth numbers are used by all state agencies, census forms can, theoretically, prove that you have more property than you declared on your tax forms. The census bureau's main defense is that the state bureaucracy doesn't work together well enough to pass that kind of information around. Although journalists benefit immensely from the use of statistics, the Czech media has hammered on these points, striking fear into the hearts of Czechs and foreigners alike. Yes, foreigners who find themselves in the Czech Republic at the time of census-taking are bound by law under penalty of fines to fill out census forms. But there is a more important problem, which the press coverage has thus far ignored. Census "commissioners," despite their fancy name, are merely temporary employees with little training and miserable pay. They are supposed to go door to door and collect census forms. In the village where I spend my weekends, this resulted in several embarrassing incidents the last time the census was taken. For one thing, the entire village immediately found out who had a color television and who didn't. In the city, the system poses a potentially dangerous problem. Gangs of professional robbers do exist in Prague and they keep track of which buildings are good finds. Up until a few years ago our building had at least one professional robbery every year. Now, there haven't been any in quite some time. The robbers figured out that most of the people in the building are pensioners with little in the way of valuables or technology. Now, here is the big question: If I put on my census form that our apartment contains two computers, two televisions, a VCR, a stereo system and a digital video camera, could that information end up on the black market? Under the current system, it is altogether possible. As a result, many people will choose to file incorrect census forms this year. How should the system be changed? Forms should be mailed or at least filed in double envelopes, as are mail-in ballots and census forms in many countries. The first envelope contains identification information to ensure that everyone is filed and the second "secret" envelope contains only the data, with no identifiers. -- The writer is a documentary-maker and free-lance writer.
Gregr's new plan has holes By Susan Nerlinger Census fear has some real roots By Arie Farnam Once a rough business E-MALE |
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.