Comelec privacy blunder

[reon]

May nawawala ba kayong kaibigan na gusto ninyong malaman ang address sa Maynila? O kaya naman ay long-lost enemies? Subukan ninyo sa webpage ng Comelec. Sa isang hindi maintindihang aksyon, nilagay ng Comelec sa Internet ang listahan ng mga registered voters sa Maynila complete with addresses and birthdates.

Mag-search kayo dito: http://www.comelecncr.com/ALPHA_INDEX.htm

Sabi nga ng isang blogger (http://drivebyshooter.net/2007/03/15/privacy-in-the-philippines/), "...what the fuck were they thinking?!?"

[sharpener]

ano na ba nasa utak ng mga iyan...juskong buhay to ...talaga namannnnnn

[infinite_trial]

i found mah long lost enemy's address hahaha...

[Paul]

Here they deal with privacy leaks due to carelessness, in the Philippines, it's just due to plain stupidity.

[scorpionight]

Mas matindi pa sa Google Earth ito..instant result,dimo alam kung matutuwa ka,o mapatulala...haayy.. .!

[wolfgang]

ano ba yan...teka nakita ko pangalan ko..nyahahha..mataga l na akong di bumoboto ahh..ibig sabihin nandoon pa rin yon...nyek...atsaka maiden name ko pa rin at dati naming address?...heheh di rin pala accurate..:D hmmn...di kaya may bumoboto para sa akin..nyahah..kagula t:eek:

[infinite_trial]

Here they deal with privacy leaks due to carelessness, in the Philippines, it's just due to plain stupidity.

haha i couldn't agree more. i looked at the front page and still they haven't realized what they've done:


The SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION through its national advocacy office fully supports this publication of the voters list in pursuit of transparency to the end that the stakeholders in our election will trust COMELEC more. This shares with all the responsibility for cleansing the voters list. View it and inform us of corrections to be made: inclusion of omitted voters, exclusion of voters who should not be included by reason of death, transfer of residence, conviction, loss of citizenship, double registration, etc. Let us all work together for truthful elections and living democracy!
everyone, let's all work together and spam this email:

ferdinandtrafanan@ya hoo.com (ferdinandtrafanan@y ahoo.com)

they must be drinkin beer when they made that website :lol:

[sharpener]

sobrang nakakapikon na talaga sila:mad:
di man nila sinama ang email address...kainis talaga!;)

[wolfgang]

sobrang nakakapikon na talaga sila:mad:
di man nila sinama ang email address...kainis talaga!;)
nyhahahha..natawa ko sayo..hahahha:D :D heheh uu nga bakit walang tel# o kaya cell no.:D sana may contact ako sa mga hina hunting ko...nyahah

[infinite_trial]

wait wait...this is some hot topic in another forum.
may nakapansin sa poorly-made website ng comelec na ito. have you tried clicking on the links? some of it will take you to a yahoo photo album. then the email i posted above is a yahoo mail. why the heck are they using a yahoo domain? why not .gov.ph?! is this a hoax?

why did they create a separate website for the voter's list?

here's the official website of comelec (http://www.comelec.gov.ph/)

[goma_23]

s.tu.pidi.ty at its best!!

[ryu4192000]

Somebody please explain "transparency" to COMELEC.

They obviously have no clue on what it and therefore are clueless on how to implement, @#!!$%!#$&. :mad:

I will not be surprised if this website will be easy to hack. :D

[elber]

I am asking everybody to please stop forwarding the link to the voter lists posted online. I share in your outrage, but sharing the link only makes the problem worse.

Why should we stop sharing? The voter lists, which should have been kept private in the first place, are now posted online. The objective now should be to take them down before somebody exploits this fact. By telling more people where to find the voter lists, we increase the chances that somebody will exploit that information.

Rest assured that there are parties already moving to take the site down.

I've also asked Reon and the administrators of this forum for their help too.

I'm not sure what else to say now. I will post again soon.

[McBONG]

Anak ng pitong hapon naman to....Yong pangalan ko mali spelling dapat letter E....Nabuang na ang mga to...

[elber]

originally posted at drivebyshooter.net (http://drivebyshooter.net/2007/03/17/epilogue-privacy-in-the-philippines/)

I posted something last Thursday on an invasion of our privacy (http://drivebyshooter.net/2007/03/15/privacy-in-the-philippines/) only to backtrack and remove the link. Here's why I took the post down - and why I'm writing about it again.

http://drivebyshooter.net/wp-includes/js/tinymce/themes/advanced/images/spacer.gifQuite simply, I took my post down to avoid making the problem worse. It was bad enough that our information was* posted online for the whole world to see, but the problem wasn't tat big yet. Why not? Not a lot of people knew about the lists being up.

* the lists have been removed, reportedly as of 7:30 p.m., Friday, 16 March 2007

By blogging about the problem, we raise awareness. However, by posting the link to the said lists, we were giving everybody access to the same information that should have been kept private. Basically, we were holding up big signs pointing to the security hole.

We can talk about it all we want now - the lists have been taken down. While the lists were still up though, it wasn't a good idea.

Now why am I posting about it again?

I'm writing about the issue because I want to make sure that certain things are cleared up.

First of all, before you start flaming the COMELEC (or burning it down (http://newsinfo.inquirer.ne t/breakingnews/metro/view_article.php?art icle_id=54107) again), take note that the URL of the offending site (http://comelecncr.com/) is a .com address. If this were an official COMELEC project, it would be posted on the Official Website of the Commission on Elections (http://www.comelec.gov.ph/) and as such, would have a .gov.ph suffix. Though it's likely that some COMELEC officials were involved in this project, this was not an official COMELEC project.

My second point - and I'm going out on a limb here - is that the people responsible for this were idiots. I'm asking you to keep that in mind. What I'm about to say may irritate some of you - and that's probably putting it mildly: they were not acting maliciously.

No, it doesn't change the fact that they impinged on our rights to privacy - their intention, however, mitigates that. They were doing this "in pursuit of transparency to the end that the stakeholders in our election will trust COMELEC more." They way in which they tried to achieve transparency was pure idiocy, but they were simply trying to do good.

Whether you agree with me or not, this is what I would like to believe.

My third point is that the people behind this project need to be held responsible for their actions. Despite their best intentions, they ended up violating our rights as citizens. Ignorance of the law, or lack of common sense, for that matter, is not an excuse for breaking it. Their complete lack of brain cells may make their actions slightly easier to forgive, but their complete disregard for our rights makes them, despite their best intentions, unforgivable.

I'm saying it again: what were they thinking?

I'm tired now. Why don't you all the posts I've found on the topic so far:
A Privacy Nightmare @ [rebelpixel productions] (http://rebelpixel.com/archives/2007/03/15/a-privacy-nightmare/)
COMELEC Posts Voter Info Online, Invades Privacy * Stellify (http://stellify.net/nitpicked/comelec-posts-voter-info-online-invades-privacy/)
Your Privacy May Have Just Been Violated @ (http://www.jozzua.com/2007/03/15/your-privacy-may-have-just-been-violated/)*Jozzua (http://www.jozzua.com/2007/03/15/your-privacy-may-have-just-been-violated/)
Privacy in the Philippines @ drivebyshooter.net (http://drivebyshooter.net/2007/03/15/privacy-in-the-philippines/)
Comelec privacy blunder @ Timog Forum | Filipinos in Japan (http://www.timog.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107 64)
Make The Rain Of Stupid Stop @ Public Static (http://redkinoko.blogspot.c om/2007/03/make-rain-of-stupid-stop.html#comments)
COMELEC and the right to privacy @ (http://www.arnoldgamboa.com/2007/03/comelec-and-the-right-to-privacy/)Grace by which I stand (v. 7) (http://www.arnoldgamboa.com/2007/03/comelec-and-the-right-to-privacy/)
Thank God I’m Not A Registered Voter » The J Spot (http://racoma.com.ph/archives/thank-god-im-not-a-registered-voter#comments)Do you know of any more posts not listed here? Drop me a comment. Thanks!

[infinite_trial]

you will not be able to access the voter's list anymore

here's a related news about it posted in inquirer.net (http://newsinfo.inquirer.ne t/breakingnews/infotech/view_article.php?art icle_id=55248)

[reon]

By blogging about the problem, we raise awareness. However, by posting the link to the said lists, we were giving everybody access to the same information that should have been kept private. Basically, we were holding up big signs pointing to the security hole.Elber and I share the same outrage that Comelec posted these voters' lists online.

However, I disagree that the links to the site be taken down. (This may be irrelevant as the lists are no longer available, we are told.) Quite simply, I think members and readers of Timog Forum have the right to know what Comelec did to their info and by posting the link, I gave them the chance to verify for themselves and share the outrage of Filipinos everywhere.

I don't think I, nor any group of self-appointed people, have the right to monopolize the information, especially when it concerns many people personally.

I think the question of whether online posters are right or wrong by posting this on their blogs or websites will be debated for a long time. But the fact is the Comelec were forced to take the lists down, and I doubt they would have done the same thing if many people kept quiet about it. Sharing information empowers people.

[reon]

Nga pala, marami akong family members at close na kamag-anak doon sa list, kaya although naisip kong huwag na lang i-post ang link, naisip ko na mas mabuting malaman ng maraming tao ang tungkol dito.

And thanks to Elber for blogging about it. Please visit his blog (Driveby Shooter (http://www.drivebyshooter.n et)), he has many interesting posts. :)

[elber]

I disagree that the links to the site be taken down. (This may be irrelevant as the lists are no longer available, we are told.) Quite simply, I think members and readers of Timog Forum have the right to know what Comelec did to their info and by posting the link, I gave them the chance to verify for themselves and share the outrage of Filipinos everywhere.

I don't mind having those links up now that the information we're trying to protect is now no longer as easily accessible (There are still ways to access it if you try hard enough). As to verifying the link, what I saw was the possibility that others, for lack of a better way of putting it, might exploit the information found at the link.

In any case, this argument, if you can call it that, is moot. Reon and I both had the same intentions - to express our outrage and to effect the removal of the voters' lists from the site. The difference was in our methods.

Oh, I almost forgot - thanks for the plug, Reon. I'm glad you like my site.

[summergirl]

Pero buti na lang at hindi kumpleto lahat ng list kung hindi wala ng privacy ang buong pilipinas..

[Bond]

Just wanted to share my take on this. I am not really into Philippine politics but issues like this always get into my nerve ... I mean caught my interest. :D

I think the Comelec NCR does not have control over the different reactions (particularly that of sharing the link to their site) from people who visited their homepage but obviously they have full control of their site. Therefore, after all the outpouring of disappointments against them, I believe they should pull down the entire site, not just the links for the voters list, and starts anew - especially the one that uses frames (http://www.comelecncr.com/) for it still bear some controversial content. For as long as the "voters list" menu and the lame "pursuit of transparency" introduction are still there, visitors will always have their inquiries and worst their doubts about their (Comelec NCR) credibility.

Simply put, if they put up a new site or at least put away those controversial content, then sharing the site link would not worsen the problem, especially theirs if they see it as such. I think to make their site favorable or otherwise really depends on them. I pity their web design team for I believe they were just doing what they were told by their superiors who seems to me lack the knowledge of the risks proliferating in the internet. Hope they, as their pictures are strangely published in the site, will be able to survive such sad experience.

On another note, I recall some years back, believe it was after the last presidential election, the Philippine Embassy here also published online the Absentee voters list in their old site. But for some reason it didn't create any controversy (I think) that time. However, bearing in mind what transpired from such blunder by the Comelec NCR, I hope the appropriate considerations and discernments will be made in the future who are planning to do the same.

My two yen po. :)