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ACORN recording GPS Coordinates of every home in America

 
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TEWSPilot
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Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)

PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2009 3:30 am    Post subject: ACORN recording GPS Coordinates of every home in America Reply with quote

I received this email tonight from a friend. Does anyone know what is going on here?

Quote:
I had a man with an ID badge indicating he was working for the Census Bureau and GPS-ing the front door of every house...hand-held computer, flyer handout...seemed innocent enough. He indicated it was Pre-Census information to make the Census easier. Without questioning him, I gave all the answers and let him GPS the front door with his hand-held computer. HOW COME NO ADVERTISING OR ADVANCED INFORMATION or TV ads?

Check out the "Comments" below.

http://www.repubx.com/


ACORN, now 5 Billion$ richer is starting to record the GPS Coordinates of every front door in America.

http://216.221.102.26/blogger/post/ACORN-now-5-Billion24-richer-is-starting-to-record-the-GPS-Coordinates-of-every-front-door-in-America.aspx

by DefendUSx http://216.221.102.26/blogger/author/defendusx.aspx
May 01, 2009 01:49

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Wing Wiper
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Joined: 09 Aug 2004
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PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2009 4:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not so sure it matters. If you put the crosshairs on your house on Google Earth, it gives you the GPS coordinates already.

Or are you saying they're printing the GPS coordinates ON the front door? If so, I'll just paint over it the next day.
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TEWSPilot
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Joined: 26 Aug 2004
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PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2009 5:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It may be nothing, but since ACORN is gathering the info, it may be going into a database that shouldn't be allowed to collect that information, and at the taxpayer's expense. Getting GPS coordinates of a single address one house at a time using Google is one thing, and I'm not too happy about that, but collecting an entire database of all houses and apartments in the USA that is searchable and sortable and can be used to target individuals by Obama's brownshirts is a different matter, but then again, maybe I'm just a bit "skeptical" as to why this information is needed to collect a simple census of the population.

...I don't know whether they are painting anything on the houses, but I doubt it...good question, though.
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GoophyDog
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PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2009 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay, if I was really paranoid I just might buy the reasoning in his article however, working in a 911 center as I do the location of the front door is a critical element.

This could be part of the national GIS initiative (I didn't know they had approved it yet) where some of the census information such as the location and address will be shared with emergency services - something that has not been allowed in the past. I mentioned it is a critical element and it is. Part of the next generation 911 services (NG911) which in part is due to phone number portability and such things like VOIP, Text911, Vid911, means people will be reporting emergencies in all sorts of ways to people who may not know the area.

In the county I work for we are doing the same thing. We're not doing the front door so much as the main point of access - all for emergency response. This ties in with the addressing so when a person dials 911 from their home it automatically plots accurately on a map and displays the response resources for the location (which fire apparatus, ambulance, law enforcement unit, nearest fire hydrant,nearest power transformer etc.) Since it is plotted on a map, we can also get the quickest routing to the location and either give it over the radio or flash their display with it.

Yes, Google can put dots on a map. But, is the address accurate? Is it really the front door? Is the front door really the best access point? Just a few issues I have found myself running into on a continuous basis.

To refute the author's premise again. Homeowners have been giving their "GPS" location for decades in the form of property parcel information and land surveys. How else do you think Google can plot a dot in the first place? The front door, or in my case best access, plot requires feet on the ground and while I may not have a badge, I do have some nifty business cards telling people what I'm doing.

While I agree ACORN is probably the last organization I would support doing this, and this administration is the least to be trusted the information, the GIS initiative has been in the works since the last census. Its not new, nor is it any more intrusive than before.
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TEWSPilot
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PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2009 4:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GoophyDog, thanks for the clarification. We had a chimney fire a few years ago, and the fire trucks got here in less than three minutes from the time I called. If using GPS or other technology can provide them this sort of accurate info to get to emergencies ASAP, I have no problem cooperating...now if they ask me how much water my toilet uses per flush or what kind of light bulbs I use or how many guns I own, then I have a problem.
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BuffaloJack
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PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2009 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Early last summer we used our Garmin GPS unit to go to my brother's new house in Southern Ohio. We made our hotel arrangements and the GPS unit got us to a spot 2.5 miles from my brother's house. When we went to our hotel, the GPS was a little over 4 miles off. Luckily the hotel was able to give us directions. When we finally got there, the hotel explained that Google had screwed up the coordinates of most of that area. It didn't matter if we used a Garmin, a Tom Tom, or a Magellan, they all get their directions from Google and the hotel said it was a constant problem for them.

Next time I'm bringing a genuine folded up paper map.
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Last edited by BuffaloJack on Tue May 05, 2009 11:08 am; edited 2 times in total
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kate
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PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 2:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I had a man with an ID badge indicating he was working for the Census Bureau and GPS-ing the front door of every house...hand-held computer, flyer handout...seemed innocent enough. He indicated it was Pre-Census information to make the Census easier. Without questioning him, I gave all the answers and let him GPS the front door with his hand-held computer. HOW COME NO ADVERTISING OR ADVANCED INFORMATION or TV ads?


We had a lady doing the pre-census canvassing on our street last week. Same deal, census tag etc. (These people were hired locally - per ads in the paper, tho don't know who paid them.)

We had a lengthy discussion about what she was doing and what info she was tagging in her lil handheld puter.

She said she was clarifying what was the correct address for the location. (Background - This street had been renumbered 3 times since I've lived here...so Ive had a total of 4 addresses here - and many of the houses have multiple numbers still visable on them)

So.. she was having quite a time with fixing up all the numbers on this road, for everyone. Deleted all the old addresses, "so we wouldn't get duplicate census questionaires" etc. ie the address for the last census would have been replaced with the newest 911 address. She sure had a mess with the addresses in her puter Rolling Eyes

I asked why they couldn't just use our correct addresses, as last assigned by 911, she said it they couldn't share info, wrong or overlapping districts, I wasn't clear with her answer.

Only thing she asked about was valid address...nothing else.

Guess I missed the GPS thing.....kinda makes sense tho, ie
this is the correct address number for this house... now
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GoophyDog
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PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 2:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kate, you nailed it with this part:

Quote:
I asked why they couldn't just use our correct addresses, as last assigned by 911, she said it they couldn't share info, wrong or overlapping districts, I wasn't clear with her answer.


Until very recently the Census by law could not share any of their data - not even if it was duplicative or stripped of identifiers. In the 911 arena we had been forced to use addresses provided by the phone companies who in turn got it from the customers who got it from the Postal service or even the "guy down the road".

TEWSPilot - your local fire department deserves the kudos. They beat the national average and met the standard. Good on em! (And yes, past my front door if they want to find anything else out, they best have a warrant.)

BuffaloJack - That's why there are so many disclaimers with those GPS units (I own a Garmin and I don't trust it). Last winter our center had three, for lack of a better term, search and rescues where people had followed the directions given only to find themselves on primitive roads stranded in snow. No need for the paper map, use the zoom out and details functions on your unit to see where you are at. Paper maps use the same information as well.
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TEWSPilot
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PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is too good not to post, especially since I am in Kansas. It's posted on Neal Boortz today.

Quote:
I know that a lot of callers have said that census workers have begun to knock on doors. The latest story about the census comes from Kansas where a woman says a census worker asked her some questions beyond the typical "how many people live in your household."

Kim Mertin says that the census workers asked her if she'd like a backrub and if she "was wearing pink undies." Who knows ... maybe these are the kinds of details the new administration is looking for. Either way, Mertin closed the door and called the police.

My first gut reaction to this story was that this census worker was clearly a fake, an imposter. But Mertin got ahold of the Census Bureau and it turns out that the man is really employed as a Census worker.

I suppose that is what you get when you team up with organizations like ACORN to hire your Census workers.

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