Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak • Hacker News Board

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#291

Post by hncommenter13 » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 12:34 AM UTC

cowabungamann wrote: post #139

DannyBee wrote: post #24

Speaking as a guy with a lot of experience with voter data ( I built the first "where do I vote" apps for Google and helped found the voting information project): This is actually almost entirely public data. Yes, including addresses and phone numbers and political affiliation. There are some states that is not public as part of the voter file, but you can still get it other ways publicly. For example: USPS, etc. Som…

where can I get access to this data?

FYI, be careful what you do with it. Some of this sort of data--like federal contribution data from the FEC--cannot be legally used for commercial purposes[0]. They do actually enforce it, at least occasionally.

[0] https://transition.fec.gov/pages/brochures/saleuse.shtml#anc... (publication is from 1992, but still accurate per disclaimer at the top)

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#292

Post by williamscales » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 12:42 AM UTC

jack_kc wrote: post #194

nostrademons wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Birthday is almost certainly public. You can get it easily from the DMV or from any of several dozen commercial providers that resell government data: https://www.dmv.org/public-records/ That it's used to confirm identity shows how weak identity-theft protections are at most institutions, not what's public information. (For that matter, mother's maiden name is basically public information as well: you can get it from…

The site you linked to is not affiliated with any state DMV. It links to a sketchy background check service that appears to be a scam. Edit: spelling

The link was preceded by the words "from any of several dozen commercial providers that resell government data:" so that's how I took it. It would be at a .gov domain if it were state affiliated.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#293

Post by idbehold » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 12:43 AM UTC

unityByFreedom wrote: post #238

dragonwriter wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Birthday is an included item. That's definitely private as it is often used to confirm identity. Lots of things that are actually not private data are used to confirm identity; “it is used to confirm identity” is not a disproof that a piece of information is public information.

Would you like to share your full name and birthday with the world? I wouldn't. Therefore it is private.

That would disclose way more information than just my name and age. You would then be able to associate that information with my HN username and all the data associated with it.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#294

Post by lr4444lr » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 12:54 AM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #247

lr4444lr wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voter records are public data. What would they be penalized for?

There's more than voter data here. The size and scope of the data are larger than most voter record data. The data appear to include proprietary data from various sources who may not agree with the terms of disclosure here. Scale matters.

Maybe, but that's a violation of the company's TOS, not the public's right to privacy.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#295

Post by 80211 » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 1:40 AM UTC

The reddit posts are odd. What value do they have?

And why/how did they leak?

Fortunately, they don't hold much personal data, but given that they're looking to raise $$$, the fact that they had a security breach is interesting. Especially if they haven't disclosed it.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#296

Post by creepydata » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 2:16 AM UTC

unityByFreedom wrote: post #231

jack_kc wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The site you linked to is not affiliated with any state DMV. It links to a sketchy background check service that appears to be a scam. Edit: spelling

That, and, I've never consented to release my birthday publicly. I consider it to be private, therefore it is private. It's mine! I expect the government would not release it since they use it as part of an identifier all the time. There's no perfect identifier. That's why we need security. This is a major lapse. Pretty sneaky of the comment above yours to try to pass dmv.org as a government website.

I think you are confused about what "private" means.

I've never "consented" to "releasing" my address publicly, but real estate records are public information thus the real estate I own is easily queried from my town's website and the real estate transaction was published in all the local newspapers. You can even look up my property tax bills from the towns website and my payment history of said taxes. If you're feeling generous you can also pay my property taxes online too.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#297

Post by unityByFreedom » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 2:16 AM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #282

unityByFreedom wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That, and, I've never consented to release my birthday publicly. I consider it to be private, therefore it is private. It's mine! I expect the government would not release it since they use it as part of an identifier all the time. There's no perfect identifier. That's why we need security. This is a major lapse. Pretty sneaky of the comment above yours to try to pass dmv.org as a government website.

> I've never consented to release my birthday publicly. Too bad. The government doesn't care about you consenting to things. In fact, making you do things without your consent is literally the entire point of organized government, even if we usually overlook that because it's for a good purpose (for example, taxation to pay for health care or national defense).

You're off topic. The government hasn't released my birthday. I question their data security practices, but any release of such information would be considered a mistake.

I don't care if you think paying for health care or national security is important or not. That's an unrelated issue to whether or not Birthday is private or public data.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#298

Post by unityByFreedom » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 2:23 AM UTC

creepydata wrote: post #280

unityByFreedom wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, yes. It certainly is. I don't want it released publicly, nor have I consented to release it to any website. If there are websites out there sharing that private information, they're doing it without my consent.

Did you read The link I posted? If you are a registered voter in Connecticut your birthday is public information by law.

Yes. One state doesn't mean all states. Also, it's tbd whether this website will be allowed to continue to operate,

> "According to the webmaster, there is a class action lawsuit that is trying to have the site shut down"

The article also argues that many types of workers ought to seek removal of their name from this list in the interest of personal security.

The story is making the case that this should be considered private information.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#299

Post by unityByFreedom » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 2:28 AM UTC

creepydata wrote: post #296

unityByFreedom wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That, and, I've never consented to release my birthday publicly. I consider it to be private, therefore it is private. It's mine! I expect the government would not release it since they use it as part of an identifier all the time. There's no perfect identifier. That's why we need security. This is a major lapse. Pretty sneaky of the comment above yours to try to pass dmv.org as a government website.

I think you are confused about what "private" means. I've never "consented" to "releasing" my address publicly, but real estate records are public information thus the real estate I own is easily queried from my town's website and the real estate transaction was published in all the local newspapers. You can even look up my property tax bills from the towns website and my payment history of said taxes. If you're feel…

You're trying to redefine private.

Is the list of doctors you visit private? I could probably discover such information, but it is considered private.

Your address is usually public unless you go to lengths to obfuscate it. You can go to Hollywood and get a map of where all the movie stars live. And, the white pages list your phone number unless you opt out.

Birthday has never been publicly available until this voter data leak. Not good.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#300

Post by unityByFreedom » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 2:34 AM UTC

williamscales wrote: post #292

jack_kc wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The site you linked to is not affiliated with any state DMV. It links to a sketchy background check service that appears to be a scam. Edit: spelling

The link was preceded by the words "from any of several dozen commercial providers that resell government data:" so that's how I took it. It would be at a .gov domain if it were state affiliated.

It said from the DMV. No evidence of that here.

Also, "reselling government data" implies that the government explicitly gave permission to a business selling your data. I doubt that's true. More likely, these entities gathered data from whatever entities they could, probably various private companies from which you've made online purchases.