651-201-4982

its a survey from the dept.of health

Why are they calling? I cannot believe the number of questions they ask. We try to be nice but this is ridiculous

They ask for the second adult male in the house and say it is a survey for health care, yet they ask if you have cable, cell phones ect......What does that have to do with health care?  I think this is a farse and want it stopped.

Caller: State of Mn
Call Type: Survey
They asked us for the third male of the house. That just seemes odd so we hung up and now they call back twice a day. I looked the number up on white pages and it came back as an unlisted cellphone from Minneapolis. I also searched the Minnesota goverment and the health site for the number and could not find it

I just told the girl that my health is none of her business.  I asked her if this is another of the govt's. ways to spend money on nothing. She ignored me and kept right on talking, as though she had to say her shpeel to get paid.  I hung up.  This kinda call makes me wonder if the govt. isn't going to start governing what we eat, etc.  Is this the govt's way of putting fear into us?  It scared the hell out of me!

I just called the number back and got a supervisor.  They are a firm that conducts surveys for various organizations.  In my case she said it was for Minnesota Health.  She gave me the number of the Health Dept.: 1-651-201-4982 .  She also said that the person conducting the survey is Dr. Nagi Salem.  That person's number is: 651-201-5996.  I asked why they ask for the 2nd or 3rd male in the house, and she says they want a random survey of different age groups.  They never asked for anyone other than myself, so I assume they have the census reports or something to know how many family members are in a household.  I told her it was scarey and almost seems like a start to socialism.  She said she understood why people would feel this way.  So why does that Dr. do this?

This also happened to my sister. she told them never to call again. If they want age group then they should ask ages and not the sex. It seems like a census and might be a corrupt way of getting a census that was slotted at llegal and barred form the 2010 census reportng.

People need to report this to the state legislature and have them investigate into this or call the health dept and ask them what ths is

It could be  scam to find out if men are in the house incase someone is tryng to find homes with no males in it so they can rob the home. how scarey is this?

They said wanted to ask questions about health care ,about how many adults,.said they wanted to talk to the other adults.
Told them no they won't and only reason I am is because giving you a chance to here what they say,but I consider it soliseting .then they said they woudl call back another time any how and I was affended by that.I also was affended that I was not talked more in a accepting way.
Smells rotten

Keep a loud whistle handy by your phone and blast their useless ears, calls like this are EXACTLY WHAT IT IS FOR!

Nothing says STOP CALLING FOREVER like the whistle.

The survey being discussed is the Minnesota Behavioral Risk Factor Survey. You can find in-depth information about it at www.cdc.gov/brfss.

Participants are randomly identified through a list of telephone numbers, not any type of Census. The survey callers DO NOT know anyones names or even who lives in the household. They do ask for certain gender and age demographics to help ensure better representation of all segments of the population as part of the survey. NO names are collected as part of the survey so you cannot be identified...in other words your responses are anonymous and cannot be tied back to you.

The purpose of the survey is to better understand the health and health behaviors of Minnesotans so that all organizations trying to improve health in our state, from government to your providers, know if they are making progress or where there might be areas to focus efforts...such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, the flu, etc.

Some questions that are asked such as cell phone use are also used to make sure certain segments of the population are not missed and to better understand how they differ from each other.

The information provided by you, as individuals is very important to making your and others lives healthier in this state...it may seem like big brother BUT nobody is really collecting information about your specific identity...just the kinds of health issues someone of your age, gender, etc are having to deal with.

You think your degree (if you even have one) gives you the right to invade our privacy??? Do you not understand that once these questions are linked with a phone number and the demographics of the victim err I mean respondent, that it is relatively trivial to associate the profile with a specific individual??? I suspect you know that perfectly well and choose not to disclose it.

I doubt that your name is Johnson, it's the most common name in the MN phonebook. And I doubt you're a doctor of anything, although that really doesn't matter. The bottom line is that you are a professional privacy invader and have just misrepresented how easy it is to identify the victims err I mean participants in your invasive little survey. You are disingenuous at best.

THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS. LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE. STOP INVADING OUR PRIVACY. Or at least wait until the government determines that we have weapons of mass destruction in our basement, then you can do whatever you want with us. And sieg hiel to you, comrade!

Your concerns about about confidentiality and privacy are valid and important. And, yes, in the unscrupulous world of private industry such credit cards, banking, shopping, and many other everyday activities that I am sure you and most of us are engaged in, breaches in privacy have occurred...especially when names are directly linked to information.

This is not the case with the BRFSS, the telephone numbers are in a completely different database from people surveys responses and they cannot ever be linked back. Furthermore, the survey response information that you provide does not include enough identifiable information to connect it with a specific individual.

Finally, in the case of the BRFSS, since its beginning in 1984 and within every State, there has NOT BEEN A SINGLE case where someones information and responses have been linked back to identify a specific individual. That is almost 3 million surveys! Feel free to check. Thus, nothing has been misrepresented...except your unfounded opinions which are not based upon any facts.

I prefer not to live in a world of conspiracies, constantly worrying that my neighbors, friends, and others are out to get me.

It's nice you prefer not to live in a world where no one is out to get you. The innocent victims of scams and identity theft that started because of a phone call would prefer not to either, but they don't have the luxury of ignorance that you apparently do.

You have chosen a communication vector -- the telephone -- which has all but been co-opted by scammers.

Look at it this way. In less than 2 minutes, I could buy a spoof card and start calling the fine citizens of Minnesota to conduct my own "survey". What would show up on their caller ID? YOUR NUMBER! Now, let's say they came to this site or one like it, read your pontifications about how safe and above-board this all is, and decided it was ok to answer your questions. Problem is, those wouldn't be your questions, and it wouldn't be you on the other end of the phone. I'm sure millions of surveys may have been conducted before that was even possible, but today it is not only possible, it is EASY, and scammers are doing it all the time. Times have changed. Keep up.

It doesn't matter whether what you say about the validity and confidentiality of your survey is true or not. That's worth repeating: IT DOESN'T MATTER. Anyone who volunteers any information to an unknown person who calls them is a fool. More and more people have become aware of this fact, and maybe someday you too will understand -- and I hope you don't have to learn it the hard way.

Go to the home page of this web site and start reading about the amazing number of ways that the telephone is being used these days. I think it would be safe to assume that 90% of cold calls are scams, but let's say it's only 50% -- why would anyone want to take even that much of a risk?

And what about cell phones, or land lines that are forwarded to cell phones? Wouldn't it be ironic if someone driving a car answered your call on the cell phone and had an accident? And there you are, trying to improve public health!

These are all plausible scenarios. Think about these things rationally for a minute, doctor. Really, think about it.

It's going to be increasingly difficult for you to get the desired response rates to your survey, because the public is reaching a deep understanding of how dangerous it is to ever respond to a stranger on the phone. You will need to find another way sooner or later, so you should start planning for it now.

This is an invasion of privacy and you have no right to any personal information
about anyone unless you have a warrant.  This type of phone call would not
have happened 30 years ago.  The obsession with other people's personal
information is a disease of our modern age.  We even have google indexing
personal information on people WITHOUT their permission.  Facebook is
another symptom of our times.  People revealing information that they do
not know how it will be used in the future.  The best policy is never answer
the phone unless its a friend calling.  Other people can correspond by mail.

The best policy is an unlisted phone number.

Let's think about this one. You must pay extra $$$/month for an unlisted number to the very phone companies that enable this telemarketing nightmare in the first place. Smacks of blackmail, doesn't it?

Do you ever get the feeling that 1984 has arrived???  Just pay
attention to everything going on around you.  Have you noticed
that there has been an increase in double-speak?  Have you noticed
that you are paranoid if you want to maintain your privacy?  This is
an example of manipulation.  Has big brother arrived?  Check out
Scroggle and read some of their commentary.  Ever notice how
politicians never really say anything?  Alan Greenspan was an
expert at sounding brilliant and never saying anything.

cold call .  I said I wasn't interested and hung up.  person on other end of the line was still talking as I hung up.

They have called and hung up on my answering machine 3 times in the past 3.5 hours. REALLY?? They do not leave a message or speak whatsoever.  They just hang up on the machine.  REALLY? A survey? Why would anyone want to give a survey about anything?  Politics/Healthcare/Price of gasoline or Milk?  Don't the people in charge know that "we the people" have better things to do than answer stupid questions about things that WILL NEVER CHANGE.  STOP CALLING ME!!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY!!!!!!

i got two calls from this place. after reading what was on this site i called them back. asked them what they wanted. they told me. i explained to the i was not interested and they were waisting there time calling me. they told me they would remove my # from there list. they told me it would take 24hrs to remove it from the computer. then i should not have any more calls from them