The e-the People folks have simply put a Web interface on this database to make the information easily accessible. Due to privacy concerns recently raised in a New York Times article , e-the People began screening off street addresses and party affiliations from public view. That s why the look-up page for the site asks for a date of birth, the assumption being that only a relatively small circle of friends and relatives would know an individual s birth date. Yet, one s birth date is not much of a secret anymore on the Internet. The site claims to have more than 135 million people in their database with names, addresses, and dates of birth.
Birth dates are free, but addresses cost money.
Very easy, as I found out with a quick five-minute experiment. Scott Reents, the president of the e-the People, seemed like a good test case. We chatted and he reiterated that since the Times article appeared, his website no longer shows a home address or party affiliation for an individual voter. Sounds like a good move to me given how easy it is to find out a person s birthday. Using a person s birth date as a challenge question is far from perfect, but probably is acceptable given that e-the People has limited the amount of information they disclose about individuals.