Is Your Neighbor a Democrat? There's an App For That 550
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.'"
Oh heck, I already know I'm in blue territory (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:A good reason to go independent (Score:5, Interesting)
Creepy or not, it's not new. In the presidential election of 2004, I remember seeing a web site mentioned in an article where you could go and look up who gave how much to which campaigns for any address. I remember wondering how many people know that the information was so readily available. If anything, this will be a good thing in educating people how easy the information is to access.
precedent (Score:4, Interesting)
Before we get too excited about this, we would do well to remember that it wasn't until the 1800's that we started having anonymous voting.
When you voted for any of the first several presidents, you went into a big room and held up your hand. There was zero voter fraud then (as now).
Secret ballots and anonymity in the electoral process was not part of the original system in the US. The founders didn't see the need, apparently. But counting the votes was always taken very seriously, with representatives from both parties involved. (This was before the innovation of black box computer voting outsourced to Republicans. Before Ken Blackwell. Before 2000).
Come on, people! (Score:4, Interesting)
If your opinions are that private, WTF are you doing on Slashdot?
Re:My new app... (Score:5, Interesting)
Another example of Supposed Privacy (Score:4, Interesting)
What if ... (Score:2, Interesting)
What if my neighbor is not a democrat, not a republican either, nor a libertarian, an independent ...
What if my neighbor turn out to be an illegal alien?
What should I do?
Re:A good reason to go independent (Score:5, Interesting)
Because they aren't fully private. Smith v. Allwright held that primaries because they have substantial impact on the governance of the United States are subject to public regulation. In this particular case the concern was that the Democratic party of Texas could not exclude blacks.