03/11 Cartoon- Getting Personal

This cartoon was drawn for yesterday's edition, but got bumped a day so not to compete with with yesterday's second editorial, "Get Counted".

It's amazing. When you consider that for years the government has been allowed to eavesdrop on citizens' phone calls and that the nefarious credit bureaus know EVERYTHING about us (plus make a lot of money using our information), this year's census questions are far, far less worrisome.

Many of us are much more casual with personal information than we realize.

Ever drop a business card in one of those fishbowls at the mall or filled out a sweepstakes card? Many times all that information is sold to real estate companies (think Glengarry Glenn Ross), mailing list companies, etc. and soon sold farther down the information food chain. How about the fields we're required to fill out on some online sites? Do you realize how much about us is passed around cyberspace in nanoseconds? Let's not even think about what our internet service providers have on us...

What has been a civic duty since 1790 is now suddenly "big brother" when our government asks its citizens for a little information every ten years to better understand the nation?