Just sent the letter with writetothem.com
Feel free to do the same, here's mine if you want to update it to reflect how you feel.
I am writing to you to raise concerns over the coming census that is due to take place soon.
I am not one of these people who are opposed to Lockheed Martin in particular, to be honest I think that some of their aircraft, like the SR-71, are amazing feats of engineering. But, I am very concerned about the confidentiality of any data that I provide on this form.
I am concerned for a few reasons:
1) As Lockheed Martin are an American based company, they are subject to the Patriot Act, which allows the US government to have access to any data in the company's possession. I for one do not want the US Agencies having access to any information about me or my family as it doesn't concern them. I understand that the ONS has stated that no personal data would be passed to any US agency or company, however I believe they are being naive if they think that a company who do 80% of their work for the US defense department would not hand it over if requested.
2) The ONS have stated that "Only UK/EU companies will have any access to personal census data". Why should the EU or any company get any of my personal data, I was under the impression that the census was purely for finding out the state of the country and used to distribute funds to local councils. Why should any of my data be given to the EU or companies. I see that as a serious breach of confidentiality and the data protection act if my information is given away like this.
I know I am not the only person who has concerns about this census for many reasons. I was wondering where you stand and your advice to your constituents. The census is supposed to be a "requested" document, yet if it is not filled in, people are threatened with ?1000 fines, which sounds like its a compulsory thing to me. I would feel better about this if there were better guarantees that the data was not going to be used for any purpose other than UK statistics and budget sharing, however this does not seem to be the case at all, and we're being threatened with hefty fines for wanting to keep out personal information personal.
