Wired: A Vending Machine for Voter Data

[NashVegas]

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61543,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

One of the nation's largest commercial distributors of voter data sold voter-registration lists featuring detailed personal information without verifying the identity or intent of buyers.

Aristotle International used a website to sell the lists, which contain details about registered voters from nearly every state. The data includes birth dates, home addresses, phone numbers, race, income levels, ethnic backgrounds and, in some cases, religious affiliations.

Although voter-registration data is a matter of public record, more than 22 states have laws restricting the purchase or use of voter lists. Yet Aristotle, based in Washington, D.C., sold lists online to anyone who wanted to buy them.

[Don_G]

1. Choicepoint Isn't Any Better

They're a division of Equifax and have given the lists out in the past too.

[dusty64]

2. Instead of getting better

our voting process continues to get worse. I guess thats what happens when you put something so important into the hands of corporations.

[dusty64]

3. I hope there are

class action suits over this and other outrages that have been occuring. What are the chances of that?

[markus]

4. Hey, we use those lists, too

Those lists are important election tools for both sides, and I'd hate to see them go away in the current privacy frenzy.

[markus]

5. Hey, we use those lists, too

Those lists are important election tools for both sides, and I'd hate to see them go away in the current privacy frenzy.

[pw]

6. Use of lists for political purposes may be OK

But it's knowing that anyone with some spare cash can use registration info to open up a new bank account or get credit cards in their name isn't going to convince people to participate in the democratic process.