Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower

Re:Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower by natrius on Saturday September 11, 2010 @02:39PM (#1682070)

So you're saying the hidden or unnoticed dead person isn't the cause of most of these, it's just that incorrect double pensions turn into incorrect single pensions? Hm... it still seems like the census data could be incorrect. All those people who are receiving pensions for dead people have a pretty big incentive to make it look like that person is still alive, so I don't see why they'd fill out the census form without counting the dead person.

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Re:Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower by patio11 on Saturday September 11, 2010 @03:06PM (#1682132)

For these and other reasons, the Census makes it quite clear that they treat all information as confidential and do not report it to any government agency. There were ads explaining that for literally months prior to the last census. The census taker who stopped by to speak with me helpfully noted that Japan would be quite grateful if, for statistical purposes, I would mention all of my illegal relatives, too, and that he would absolutely not speak to Immigration about them.

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Re:Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower by yummyfajitas on Saturday September 11, 2010 @03:52PM (#1682226)

The census may claim to treat information collected as confidential. But why would people believe them? The US government also claims census data is confidential, but that claim has been proven to be a lie.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-30-census-role_N...

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Re:Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower by martey on Saturday September 11, 2010 @04:49PM (#1682319)

I am not sure how a disclosure of information during World War II that was legal under the laws of the time has any relevance on how information is treated now. See http://www.census.gov/privacy/data_protection/title_13_-_pro...

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Re:Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower by stretchwithme on Saturday September 11, 2010 @05:32PM (#1682404)

Was it legal to round people up like that without even probable cause before the war? Current law can be changed and even constitutions ignored when it becomes convenient.

Maybe those committing fraud believe that if they NEVER disclose something, its pretty much a sure thing that it can never be used against them.

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Re:Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower by harshpotatoes on Saturday September 11, 2010 @09:02PM (#1682771)

You might be able to convince me that at least one person lied on the census, but you will have a very hard time convincing me that even 10% of the dead/moved eldery had somebody lie to the census about their existance. I find it far more likely that most of these people are a series of clerical errors.

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Re:Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower by stretchwithme on Saturday September 11, 2010 @09:19PM (#1682800)

I wouldn't try to convince you that dead people did anything.

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Re:Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower by yummyfajitas on Sunday September 12, 2010 @08:23AM (#1683526)

The government changed the law to allow previously private information to be used for new purposes. They could do this again.

The only way you can prevent the government from misusing information is not to give it to them.

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Re:Why life expectancy in Japan may in fact be a bit lower by stretchwithme on Saturday September 11, 2010 @05:23PM (#1682387)

exactly. people committing fraud and getting away with it are well aware that the government can say one thing and do another. Because they're doing the exact same thing.

Many people should have to prove they are still alive periodically. How hard can it be to send in a video holding the newspaper of the day?

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