The Chicago Board of Elections has removed voters' addresses andbirth dates from its Web site because of privacy concerns.
"We feel we need to look at the whole issue of delivery ofinformation via the Internet," said board Chairman Langdon Neal. "Wewanted to step back and make sure the public's right to privacy issafeguarded."
In a similar situation, the Social Security Administration,responding to public outcry, pulled the plug Wednesday on itsInternet service that allowed users to view income information.The Sun-Times reported earlier this week that it was possible touse the city's online registration status system to look up theaddresses of registered voters who are unlisted in the telephonedirectory.Voter registration records are open to public inspection,according to Illinois law, and anybody can view the paper records atthe Board of Election office - after they fill out a request form."The question is the ease of access and the ability to judge ifsomebody is legitimately pursuing this information or if it is apurpose that would be unlawful or improper," Neal said.The system in Chicago was designed as a public service to allowpeople to check their own voter registration status, polling place,precinct and ward number, said Tom Leach, spokesman for the ChicagoBoard of Election Commissioners.The Board of Elections expects to reach a decision within 30days about what information will be available on its Web site.Before the site was taken down Tuesday, it had been visited byusers more than 25,000 times since it went online in mid-February andnobody had complained about his or her privacy being invaded, Leachsaid."If they are trying to encourage people to register to vote, theyare doing it the wrong way," said Stanton McCandlish, programdirector for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a SanFrancisco-based privacy and civil liberties group. "What do you wantmore, the right to vote or the right to privacy? You should not bein the position where it's a trade-off."
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