In the name of democracy, and political campaigns, the Obama campaign took things to a scary new level.
Just as Girls Around Me used public Facebook & FourSquare data to list single girls around you, this app uses the freely available census and political data to display blue flags, and reveal names & ages of people who are registered democrats.
Scary that a presidential campaign would stoop this low…
From ProPublica:
Curious how many Democrats live on your block? Just download the Obama campaign’s new mobile app.
The app, released last week, includes a Google map for canvassers that recognizes your current location and marks nearby Democratic households with small blue flags.
For each targeted address, the app displays the first name, age and gender of the voter or voters who live there: “Lori C., 58 F, Democrat.”
All this is public information, which campaigns have long given to volunteers. But you no longer have to schedule a visit to a field office and wait for a staffer to hand you a clipboard and a printed-out list of addresses.
With the Obama app, getting a glimpse of your neighbor’s political affiliation can take seconds.
via Is Your Neighbor a Democrat? Obama Has an App for That – ProPublica.