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Is Your Neighbor a Democrat? Obama Has an App for That
by Lois Beckett
ProPublica, Aug. 3, 2012, 3:52 p.m.
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."
Last edited by Little-Acorn; 08-05-2012 at 01:03 PM..
Alternately, I'm not happy my neighbors won't see I'm not a Democrat. I live in an area where there is blind devotion to the liberal agenda and absolutely no tolerance for any other way of thinking. Not even Independents are welcome. There is something so totalitarian about this app it's breathtaking.
I've been called everything from a RINO to a communist for being a moderate, and I'm a registered republican (although I'm voting independent now). If you have "foam at the mouth" tea party neighbors who think everyone who doesn't love Rick Santorum is satan's spawn, I'm not sure I'd want them to know my political affiliation either. It's not safe--there are lots of hysterical, nutty people in the world.
Wow, this ought to make a democract question their own party as to why they need to be tracked. Like how it makes it easier for them to get the word out to their voters.........I think not, big brother is making them property and not a voter.
Good thing I'm a registered Republican now. It also cut down on a lot of useless solicitations for donations and surveys, and no Spanish language mailings either
And people think the problem is millionaires buying billboards.
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