[folknor]

You do not remember correctly, I think.

It's simply omitted from the governments own statistics, and the police do not record ethnicity and such in their official reports.

That said, of course the above has essentially the same effect as it being against the law.

And it's obviously ludicrous - the more data one has, the more rational decisions one can make as a politician charged with representing the people.

Removing data points is pure lunacy in a functional democracy.