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What happens when you take publicly available data and mix it with your Facebook friends? It could be a recipe for disaster between friends. The California Democratic Party on Monday released a new Facebook app that, with your permission, scours your list of friends and identifies those who are registered as Democrats but don't vote regularly, according to the LA Times. It then encourages you to talk to them about next week's election.
The app, Friend Out the Vote, was funded by Facebook's former chief privacy officer Chris Kelly, who made an unsuccessfully bid for California Attorney General during this summer's primary. Speaking of privacy, the party spokesperson told the Times the app acts in the same way direct mail is generated.
We gave it a try, and while it gave us a partial error, it did identify a handful of friends targeted as "occasional voters." One of them just moved here and in the past has lived in several countries and states. Another admitted they didn't vote in the June election, but has voted in all the rest. It also identified someone who lives in Chicago and hasn't lived in California.
What do you think about this method of getting out the vote?
