Is Your Neighbor a Democrat? There's an App For That

theodp writes "ProPublica's Lois Beckett reports that the Obama for America campaign's new mobile app is raising privacy concerns with its Google map that recognizes one's current location, marks nearby Democratic households with small blue flags, and displays the first name, age and gender of the voter or voters who live there (e.g.,'Lori C., 58 F, Democrat'). Asked about the privacy aspects of the new app, a spokesperson for the Obama campaign wrote that 'anyone familiar with the political process in America knows this information about registered voters is available and easily accessible to the public.' Harvard law prof Jonathan Zittrain said the Obama app does represent a significant shift. While voter data has been 'technically public,' it is usually accessed only by political campaigns and companies that sell consumer data. 'Much of our feelings around privacy are driven by what you might call status-quo-ism,' Zittrain added, 'so many people may feel that the app is creepy simply because it represents something new.'"

Comments

A good reason to go independent

[FreeUser]

It is creepy, and a good reason not to register as a member of either party...no matter how much you may want to vote in the primaries.

Re:A good reason to go independent

[fustakrakich]

Mine just say, "Get off!"

Re:A good reason to go independent

[crymeph0]

The organizer of Chick-Fil-A appreciation day, Mike Huckabee, is a former, not current governor. I'm not sure if any active governors endorsed Chick-Fil-A appreciation day. But I'm not aware that any politicians expressing support for Chick-Fil-A were implying that they would spend government resources supporting Chick-Fil-A, e.g. by catering their department lunches exclusively from Chick-Fil-A. Several of the mayors who have spoken out against Chick-Fil-A, however, at least strongly implied, if not directly threatened, to use government resources to punish Chick-Fil-A for its president's personal opinion, by denying permits for new store locations, etc. Those opposed to the views of Chick-Fil-A's president have every right to protest and boycott, and the mayors would have been well within their authority to denounce the views of Mr. Cathy, including endorsing boycotts by private citizens, but using tools of government to punish individuals or corporations is not acceptable or legal. For what it's worth, I voted against a recent constitutional amendment in North Carolina that prohibits gay marriage, and disagree very strongly with Mr. Cathy's apocalyptic viewpoint on the issue, but I am even more firmly opposed to the government rewarding or punishing points of view.

Re:A good reason to go independent

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't have to register for any party, because you can select independent. You have to register with a party if you want to vote in their private elections. The primaries aren't official government election. They're elections held by the parties to see who will represent them in the official elections. Some of them don't require you to register, but most do.

Re:A good reason to go independent

[ArcherB]

Chick-Fil-A wasn't attacked because of the CEO's political opinions, it was attacked because of their donations to hate groups, particularly the one that is pushing quite successfully for Uganda to make homosexuality a capital crime.

Really? Then why did they start protesting only after Cathy made his comment? And if the uproar was over donations made by Chick-Fil-A, then maybe you should notify CNN and every other news outlet that thinks this is about what Cathy said. Here is a quote from a CNN story:

The controversy came about after an interview with the fast food restaurant chain's president and COO, Dan Cathy, appeared in The Baptist Press on July 16 and he weighed in with his views on family.

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit," Cathy said. "We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that."

Strange. No mention of Uganda at all.

Oh, and the whole Uganda story is bullshit anyway.

Re:A good reason to go independent

[ArcherB]

Or you might be scared of right wing domestic terrorists murdering you... as just happened to some Sikh's today

You mean like the right winger that shot Gabrielle Giffords, the one that flew the plane into the IRS building in Austin or the one that just shot up a Batman movie.

Oh, right! None of those guys were right wingers, but they were all reported to be, just like you are trying to report this guy to be.

Re:A good reason to go independent

[TFAFalcon]

So why are public funds spent on primary elections, when they are held by private clubs?

Re:A good reason to go independent

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Or Republicans for that matter. A few years ago Democrats requested a list of people who signed a petition to get something on the ballot. Their admitted intent was to hassle and intimidate these people.

The Supreme Court upheld the request, as that is technically public information, but expressed geat concern over gros. That's a hint to Congress that they maybe might wanna do something about it.

Re:A good reason to go independent

[jbolden]

It's not public. It's only public because the dems disclosed it. You can't tell who is and is not registered republican in that way.

Yes you can. You can go down to your local office and get the voter registration rolls for your town, including Republicans anytime you want. This information is legally public. It is not private and then disclosed.

There's "available" and then there's "available"

[sootman]

> Harvard law prof Jonathan Zittrain said the Obama
> app does represent a significant shift. While voter
> data has been 'technically public,' it is usually
> accessed only by political campaigns and companies
> that sell consumer data.

"But the plans were on display..."
"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
"That's the display department."
"With a flashlight."
"Ah, well, the lights had probably gone."
"So had the stairs."
"But look, you found the notice, didn't you?"
"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."

- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

My new app...

[multiben]

...shows the private addresses of all politicians with a range of little icons over their houses showing what kind of scandals they have been involved with and what organisations they have been members of.

Re:Actually a Good Thing

[Mr. Underbridge]

You can't simultaneously thing wikileaks and government transparency are good things and this is a bad thing

The hell I can't. Government should be transparent, not people.

Also, there's a similar analogy to the difference between a six-shot revolver and an automatic weapon. The balance between openness and privacy was struck when the data was hard to get. Now that it's so easy to get en masse, that balance needs to be re-struck.

Re:You can

[jbolden]

That was the argument of the Texas Democratic party in Smith v. Allwright. That it was a private event and therefore they had every right not to allow blacks to participate. The supreme court found that primaries are a compelling part of the American electoral system and therefore not entirely private matters.