Big Brother is here: be glad.

• Author: Cutler, Debbie
• Position: From the Editor - Questionnaires for census survey

Big Brother is watching, but this time for a good reason.

The U.S. 2010 Census will be in our mailboxes and on our doorsteps soon, and every household is required by law to fill out the form or face penalties.

Don't make it hard on the poor Census workers knocking on doors in the dead of winter. Good comes out of it: government funding for the state, the number of electoral votes Alaska receives, congressional seat allocations and much more.

I was reading about the 2010 Census in Alaska Economic Trends December 2009 issue, put out by the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, and I learned a few things.

1. Alaska is the first in the nation to be visited by the U.S. Census Bureau. In fact, a little village of Noorvik, population 612, located just east of Kotzebue in a Bush community, was the first to see census workers: Jan. 25, 2010, before residents headed off to fish camps after spring breakup.

2. While the official Census date is April 1, Alaskans will be doing theirs early. Questionnaires will be mailed or delivered February and March, and are expected to be completed and returned within two weeks.

3. If you get your mail delivered to your home address, your U.S. Census form will come via mail. If you have a P.O. box, you'll get a knock on the door. If you have neither, they will find you. They know every address, every home, and plan to make contact with all.

4. Census information is private, at least in its original version with name attached. In fact, there is a stiff fine if information revealed to anyone. All census workers undergo background checks by the FBI, have their fingerprints taken, and take an oath of lifetime confidentiality. No worries: information will not be revealed to the IRS, FBI, courts, police, CIA or anyone else for that matter, that is until it goes into the National Archives 72 years after the record is...