Is Your Neighbor a Democrat? Obama Has an App for That

Pro Publica ^ | 8-3-12 | Lois Beckett

[GR_Jr.]

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.

While The New York Times dubbed the app "the science-fiction dream of political operatives," some of the voters who appear in the app are less enthusiastic about it.

"I do think it's something useful for them, but it's also creepy," said Lori Carena, 58, a long-time Brooklyn resident, when she was shown the app. "My neighbors across the street can know that I'm a Democrat. I'm not sure I like that."

It's unclear if the app displays all registered Democrats who live in a certain area, or only a subset of voters President Obama's campaign is trying to reach....

[goodnesswins]

This is readily available at your local county elections office.....sheesh.

[Mike Darancette]

Useful information for when the black marias roll.

[Carriage Hill]

Is this the program you’re referring to?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjAjAvxDkfk&feature=share

[voicereason]

< /paranoia mode, but only slightly>

Just because your paranoid doesn't mean they really aren't out to get you.

[musicman]

Thanks for the link!! Now imagine millions of Obamaphones that Barry can text and email to to "create" whatever mayhem he needs for re-election. A whole army of obots in complete communication with each other and their leader and an app to tie them all together.

(OBTW....and WE paid for them....)

[ops33]

Thank God I live in Oklahoma. There’s only about 4 Democrats left in the entire state. (Not really, but they are getting scarce.)

[Carry_Okie]

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."

Imagine this kind of app in the hands of a regulatory bureaucrat, applying selective enforcement of environmental laws or deciding whether to provide fire protection upon the basis of party registration.

[thecodont]

And if Obama is elected, the police will be given an app to track down where Republicans live < /paranoia mode, but only slightly>

How about BEFORE the election?

What if Republicans are mapped out and targeted the day before the election, and Dem operatives "arrange" for these people to be "inconvenienced" on their way to their local polling place?

Possible scenarios:

1. Vandalism to property (house vandalized).
2. Vandalism to car (flat tire).
3. Staged/false family emergency call.
4. Neighborhood "emergency" that blocks the way to the polling place.

Add your own. I'm only being slightly paranoid.