While I certainly understand the "Big Brother" sentiment, there IS another side to the coin. At a state beekeepers meeting a couple years ago, we had a woman from the Ag Dept there to encourage us to fill out the Ag Census forms. She noted that the government makes funding decisions based on numbers. As an example, she pointed out that the official NASS number of bee colonies in Indiana was 7000. We had only about a hundred beeks at the meeting, and easily had well over that number of colonies between us.
Her point was that numbers add up to Political Clout. If beeks want government funding for things like Bee Labs, then the numbers have to justify it. If you want legislation in your state protecting beekeepers from pesticide spraying, the numbers have justify it. If beeks don't fill out census forms, the government concludes that we're too few for them to be concerned about.