Google has launched it’s Election 2009 microsite (in partnership with HT, Indicus and several others).
While the site is quite useful and offers personalization (one can enter city detail and Google provides very useful information on development data/MP information etc), there seems to be a privacy issue here.
One can search for anybody’s name (‘Search Voter Rolls’ module) and get personal information like complete address/age etc (see the screenshot).
Voter's address/personal information is public?
This information is sourced from Janaagraha/Jaagore (error screen shows Jaagore link)– and interestingly, this information isn’t available even on jaanagraha/Jaagore site or for that matter, any of the corporation site.
So, why is Google showing this information without seeking permission from people? Isn’t this a privacy concern – now that your personal details are out there in public?
And if it’s not Google, then who has given authority to Jaagore/Janaagraha to sell/share this information?
PS: Pardon me for my ignorance, but is voter data public in India?
Well, here in Bangalore, if public data needs to be seen or acquired, i would need to apply for RTI and show that i am sane , then identity and stuff, so is google all part of it, how can google show people address and data..even if its available, who should be held responsible the EC or the corporation guys in blore?
Google thinks it can do anything on earth, but c’mon WTF!!!
As far as I understand, it is public information. After all, would you accuse the telephone directory company of privacy violation?
Yellow Pages/Telephone directory do not have user age/voter id etc – these are personal information of users that no single entity can share in public.
[100% sure about age data]
Valid point.
I’m trying to understand this as well.
I do know that BJP and Congress party workers come to every house (for every election) and give a paper on how to vote which has our details including our voter ID, etc. I wonder how do they get it?
Again, AFAIK, they get it from the local electoral office, whatever that is. I’m not sure if it is supposed to be available or not, though.
Yeah it’s public. The Election Commission puts up the entire voters list in PDF format so that people can verify their names. The privacy breach starts with them.
But this is a lot of progress. During the 1984 anti-Sikh riots Sikh families were identified for looting and murder only because the workers of the political party in power had access to the voters list. Today any organisation can download the voters list and find out where to go.
Guys
We have come up with a blog (http://myvote4myleader.blogspot.com/) on Election Updating about the Candidates profiles w.r.t to their Qualification, background, achievements, Non achievements etc.. We collect info from internet and various other sources..
Would this come under privacy violation??
Even if data is available publicly (which I doubt), how come Janaagraha and Jaagore are sharing this data to Google.
Somebody is playing evil here..not sure who!
Looks like privacy an all are only for firangi duniya, our CEO’s(CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER’s) dont care for “PRIVACY. Today one can get a complete list of voters in any given state & municipality .
Example take for http://www.ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in/indexw.html.
one can get all the details in pdf docs(http://stg1.kar.nic.in/final_pdf_per_2009/Part_List.asp?AC=176&ACNm=Bangalore%20South) . more than that you can search(http://stg1.kar.nic.in/searchfinalroll_2009/Search.aspx) person by name ,age and get his details. i really liked this search result (http://stg1.kar.nic.in/searchfinalroll_2009/Results.aspx)
If election commission can publish it , why cant Google pick it up .
and its more easy to search compare to CEO’s website.
From Jaago Re website FAQ’s
Voter list (also called Electoral Roll) is a list of all registered voters, as per the records of Election Commission. This is the official document referred on Election Day when deciding who is entitled to vote and who is not. When you {REGISTER_TO_VOTE}, you are registering to get your name included on the voter list of your Assembly Constituency (AC). The same list is valid for Parliamentary Constituency (PC) as well.
Voter list for each AC is broken into parts or polling booths. Each polling booth has an average of 1000 to 1500 voters. All of these are listed serially (house number wise) on the voter list. Voter lists contain the following details for each voter:
• Name
• Street address
• Age
• Sex
• Name of relation
• EPIC/Voter ID card number (if available)
• Photograph (if it is a photo electoral roll)
You can find the latest voter list for your polling booth at the office of your Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). For many states, you can find the voter lists online at the website of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
Jaagore privacy policy
If you’ve submitted your email address or mobile number, we will send you regular updates and keep you informed about relevant news. ***We will not disclose your information to any entity without your permission. You will be able to unsubscribe or change your subscriptions at any time.***
We have started a site on election 2009 governance.cplash.com . We had tried to differ as we encourage user opinion too. They can comment on page of a MP, constituency or party. We had just started, so please do have a look.