One of the things I do to protect myself is vigorously restrict disclosure of my physical address. I use a mailbox service and only provide that unless I am compelled otherwise. For example, to register to vote I was required to give my actual residence so I can receive the correct ballot (which arrives at my mailing address.)
Then this happens:
Report: 191M voter records exposed online
Some organization that holds copies of US voter records, through a monumental database screw-up, has allowed public access on the Internet to all of the data. Nobody knows exactly how, or by whom, or even for how long, because the most likely actors are falling over themselves to disclaim any association with the breach.
The California Secretary of State reports that there were 17.7 million registered California voters in 2015. The author of the above article quotes a security researcher who verified access to “over 17 million California voters.” I will leave as an exercise for the reader the percent chance of my information having been exposed.
The problem with secret information is that once it’s released there’s no way to pull it back. Access to voter information varies by state, but many states restrict who can access it and for what purposes. California is particularly strict in that it can only be used for campaign or government purposes. Without question, this disclosure is violating the law. There will be investigations, and charges, and lawyers will wrangle over this for years to come. Maybe, eventually, some person or organization will be held to account.
But for some people, none of that will matter. It’s not just an academic discussion when I have friends and colleagues who regularly receive threats of death and other abuse of the most vile nature. Even for those who have similarly assiduously protected their physical addresses, they will need to face the possibility that the only option to protect themselves from their harassers is to move.
For those friends and colleagues, I can at least report that the State of California has a program that provides a free Post Office Box to qualifying abuse victims, than can legally be used to register to vote and access other government services. So if it comes to that horrible decision, perhaps you can get some help to protect yourself after.
For me, and everybody else, we are on our own. If you live in California and want to express an opinion in this matter, here are some suggestions:
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla
Senator Barbara Boxer
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Find Your California Representative
For other states:
Find Your Senators and Representatives – OpenCongress
This, friends, is the future.
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