If it is any consolation, the government already knows the names and birth dates of your children, your income, etc.
Here were the Census Bureau’s plans for protecting the data. Of course, as we know, things can go wrong.
“Retrievability:
Information may be retrieved by name and address. Name and address
information are maintained separately from corresponding survey data
for privacy and confidentiality purposes.
Safeguards:
The U.S. Census Bureau is committed to respecting respondent
privacy and protecting confidentiality. Though the Data Stewardship
Program, we have implemented management, operational and technical
controls and practices to ensure high-level data protection to
respondents of our census and surveys: (1) All U.S. Census Bureau sworn
individuals are subject to the restrictions, penalties, and
prohibitions of Title 13 of the U.S.C., and all employees are annually
certified through training concerning the confidentiality of data; (2)
data sets released by the U.S. Census Bureau have been subjected to and
have successfully met criteria established by an internal Disclosure
Review Board to ensure no personally identifiable data is released; (3)
an unauthorized browsing policy protects respondent information from
casual or inappropriate use by any person with access to Title 13
protected data; and (4) all computer systems that maintain sensitive
information are in compliance with Common Criteria auditing, which
monitors all read, write, create, and delete access to restricted data.
Retention and Disposal:
American Community Survey respondent data, including personally
identifying data, are captured as images suitable for computer
processing. Original data sources are destroyed, according to the
disposal procedures for Title 13 (``census confidential’’) records,
after confirmation of successful data capture and data transmission to
U.S. Census Bureau headquarters. Personally identified data are
scheduled for permanent retention.”