COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US)

Brennan77 said
I don't know that I'd use a fake name. I'm just saying that if I ate under those terms, that would be how I'd do it. And it would be obviously so as a form of protest. But I don't know that I'd do that, for some of the moral concerns mentioned. I'd probably just go to a restaurant in a neighboring parish honestly. Also, I have no love of crime cameras or traffic cameras so I don't see the point in using them as a justification for requiring a restaurant to provide my personal information to the city of New Orleans. The argument that existing privacy violations somehow justify this one is odd.

As for the census, I do participate as compelled by law. However, I'm sure you can see the difference between a census and the government compelling a private company to collect the personal information of their customers in order to operate. I'm under no misunderstandings about the current situation in which my privacy is near zero inasmuch as I use a phone or email or search engine (non pornographic of course). And the relationship between the government and the private companies that collect and sell that data are obviously a problem. But again, that doesn't justify the explicit compulsion of requiring private businesses to collect and provide customer data in order for them to operate. It's way over the line, even if the intention is good. Most tyrannical oversteps are justified to the public by seemingly good intention.

Concerning churches participating in logging for the mayor, I will not attend mass at a church that will require me to give information to the mayor of New Orleans. It was an immediate concern of mine. I'd be seriously troubled if the bishop tried to operate under those terms. It'd probably violate all sorts of canon law. If politicians press on the matter we will witness a serious gut check for the Church in which bishops will decide whether they are good little civil servants of the temporal order or apostles and ministers in the priesthood of Christ our Lord. I received the archdiocesan letter this morning and saw no mention of logging and it was obviously up to date on information. I'm eager to see what my parish says.

I've pretty much so made my position clear on this several times so I won't belabor the point. But, I will say that I really don't see the difference between giving my personal information directly to the government in the Census and having a private company collect less information in a pandemic other than that the burden is placed on a private company to collect the data.

But, it's not like the government doesn't tell restaurants to do all kinds of things in the interest of public health and safety. They have to pass health and safety inspections to operate and are supposed to follow all sorts of sanitary rules set by the local government or they will be shut down. I mean, they have to have a Department of Health Certificate posted to even operate. I don't see this as any more of a burden on restaurants than any other health and safety rule. In fact, it's much less of a burden and for a much more important reason. But, I don't know, do you disagree with restaurants having to comply with Department of Health rules in order to operate?

Will you be boycotting restaurants in other parishes that comply with Department of Health guidelines? Or is it really that it is your personal information that they collect, not so much that the government is making them do it that really bothers you? And, if that's the case, then shouldn't you actually be boycotting the Census too?

And my point about the crime cameras etc. was that they could choose to get this information in a much more secretive and intrusive manner, instead of just having you write a name and number, not that the fact that there are already violations of privacy makes this justifiable. They are using a much less intrusive means here and that is really a central issue when the Courts decide if a Constitutional right is being impermissibly violated.

And apparently, I do want to belabor the point.