February 8, 2016 at 9:36 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Digital Woes of Public Records
February 9, 2016 at 7:05 am
Who exactly controls the information? What kind of roadblocks are they going to put up? The fact that I'm a voter needs to be public for all sorts of reasons in a democracy.
412-977-3526 call/text
February 9, 2016 at 7:06 am
I heard a story that an analysis of coin composition revealed the state of a nation's armament capability.
Data is like fissile material. Once it gains critical mass it's a nightmare
February 9, 2016 at 7:36 am
So data 'could be used maliciously'. That's been true as long as data has been accessible in any form.
Public records are important. I have issues with states putting them behind paywalls because that rather defeats the purpose of having public records.
In these cases public interest has to be weighed against the possibility that someone may use the data in ways that weren't intended. Public interest should generally win.
February 9, 2016 at 8:01 am
David.Poole (2/9/2016)
I heard a story that an analysis of coin composition revealed the state of a nation's armament capability.Data is like fissile material. Once it gains critical mass it's a nightmare
Do you have a link to that story, David? I'd be curious to read it.
Rich
February 9, 2016 at 8:06 am
...That's scary, though potentially not a problem. A number of states publish voter data as public records. A few might have restrictions on the use of that data, but the fact that the data is available means it could be used maliciously, with overburdened authorities unlikely to prosecute anyone even if they're caught...
Wow, so... will this database tell us whether a job applicant voted for Donald Trump? Not that it would necessarily bias anyone's hiring decisions but... :ermm:
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
February 9, 2016 at 9:25 am
robert.sterbal 56890 (2/9/2016)
Who exactly controls the information? What kind of roadblocks are they going to put up? The fact that I'm a voter needs to be public for all sorts of reasons in a democracy.
I tend to agree, though I'm not sure I want this digitally available from the web. There are potentially data aggregation security/identity issues here.
February 9, 2016 at 9:29 am
Eric M Russell (2/9/2016)
...That's scary, though potentially not a problem. A number of states publish voter data as public records. A few might have restrictions on the use of that data, but the fact that the data is available means it could be used maliciously, with overburdened authorities unlikely to prosecute anyone even if they're caught...
Wow, so... will this database tell us whether a job applicant voted for Donald Trump? Not that it would necessarily bias anyone's hiring decisions but... :ermm:
That's the weird part. Could someone in HR influence the direction of a company, or of a department by using this data to screen candidates, or allow them through? What if you only saw people that voted for, or against Trump? Would you just hire one or two because that's all you saw?
What if you were looking to subtely check people's ages, and only hire people under 30? You could only allow those resumes through, claiming that information isn't on the resume, so that's the "pool" you hire. Same with women, races, etc.
These are certainly extreme, and I'd argue, not likely, but certainly possible. The more data that becomes available, who knows. How many people use recruiters? Do you know how they screen people?
February 9, 2016 at 9:35 am
Aggregation is something that is easy to do if you are large institutionally, so essentially you are rewarding people for size.
That isn't democratic.
412-977-3526 call/text
February 9, 2016 at 9:42 am
But if our voting history isn't public, how will our corporate overlords know that we voted for the correct candidate? :w00t: I'm kinda flashing back on those joyous times when votes could be bought, and I sometimes wonder if we're circling back to it.
I once wrote an election reporting system (that was used twice before my boss lost an internal squabble), but it only reported on each polling station's totals, the tally that I saw had no details on individual voters. I'm very curious how much detailed information this dump had, it would be interesting to see how I voted over the years. I know how I vote, I'd like to see the individual races and referendums.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
February 9, 2016 at 9:45 am
The voting record records only if you voted or not.
It should be harder not to vote than to vote.
412-977-3526 call/text
February 9, 2016 at 10:03 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (2/9/2016)
Eric M Russell (2/9/2016)
...That's scary, though potentially not a problem. A number of states publish voter data as public records. A few might have restrictions on the use of that data, but the fact that the data is available means it could be used maliciously, with overburdened authorities unlikely to prosecute anyone even if they're caught...
Wow, so... will this database tell us whether a job applicant voted for Donald Trump? Not that it would necessarily bias anyone's hiring decisions but... :ermm:
That's the weird part. Could someone in HR influence the direction of a company, or of a department by using this data to screen candidates, or allow them through? What if you only saw people that voted for, or against Trump? Would you just hire one or two because that's all you saw?
What if you were looking to subtely check people's ages, and only hire people under 30? You could only allow those resumes through, claiming that information isn't on the resume, so that's the "pool" you hire. Same with women, races, etc.
These are certainly extreme, and I'd argue, not likely, but certainly possible. The more data that becomes available, who knows. How many people use recruiters? Do you know how they screen people?
Track who you voted for? Not possible: there's absolutely nothing connecting "me, the registered voter" to a completed ballot. Do ballots in your state have unique ID numbers or bar codes? Here in rural New Hampshire, they're still paper ballots, marked by pencil, counted by hand. (Fun process: town moderator calls for volunteers, you work in pairs -- one reading, one marking a tally in pencil -- then you take turns. Quaintly nineteenth century, and a good reminder for participatory democracy.)
With voting machines, that's a different story, and I would expect there'd be a clean digital divide between being registered and authorized to use the machine vs. attaching your personal info. to a specific vote. Anyone here work with the software behind those?
Rich
February 9, 2016 at 10:04 am
JustMarie (2/9/2016)
So data 'could be used maliciously'. That's been true as long as data has been accessible in any form.Public records are important. I have issues with states putting them behind paywalls because that rather defeats the purpose of having public records.
In these cases public interest has to be weighed against the possibility that someone may use the data in ways that weren't intended. Public interest should generally win.
As a worker in the Public Sector for a state with very liberal Public Records laws (basically everything is public record with very few exceptions), when I have to pull records for every customer including name, address, mailing address, phone number, email for every residential or commercial account, and does not meet the exceptions rules, that had over 50,000 gallons of water consumption over the past year to send in PDF format to joelazy@lowflowtoiletsales.com for his lead list, IMHO that is not the intent of the Public Records laws and he should be charged for my time.
February 9, 2016 at 10:32 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (2/9/2016)
Eric M Russell (2/9/2016)
...That's scary, though potentially not a problem. A number of states publish voter data as public records. A few might have restrictions on the use of that data, but the fact that the data is available means it could be used maliciously, with overburdened authorities unlikely to prosecute anyone even if they're caught...
Wow, so... will this database tell us whether a job applicant voted for Donald Trump? Not that it would necessarily bias anyone's hiring decisions but... :ermm:
That's the weird part. Could someone in HR influence the direction of a company, or of a department by using this data to screen candidates, or allow them through? What if you only saw people that voted for, or against Trump? Would you just hire one or two because that's all you saw?
What if you were looking to subtely check people's ages, and only hire people under 30? You could only allow those resumes through, claiming that information isn't on the resume, so that's the "pool" you hire. Same with women, races, etc.
These are certainly extreme, and I'd argue, not likely, but certainly possible. The more data that becomes available, who knows. How many people use recruiters? Do you know how they screen people?
We know from surveys that HR only has time in their busy schedule to spend maybe two minutes pre-screening each resume as it is, and bumping up a candidate's name against an online database is just one more manual step. However, I'm sure some enterprising startup will create a web service front end to help facilitate the process. The client can simply copy / paste a list of names + DOB along with qualifying demographic and political criteria into a web form, and then the SOA provider charges a few dollars for each candidate who comes back clean. The service could also cross check the candidates against the state sex offender registry, the latest Ashley Madison dump, and Google Analytics to weed out the perverts.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
February 9, 2016 at 10:34 am
🙂
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
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