<![CDATA[Alberta's electoral list (names &amp; addresses of every registered voter in the province) was posted publicly on the web by a pro-separation group who got it from the Republican Party of Alberta, an also-ran pro-separatist political party.]]>Alberta's electoral list (names & addresses of every registered voter in the province) was posted publicly on the web by a pro-separation group who got it from the Republican Party of Alberta, an also-ran pro-separatist political party.

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Elections Alberta granted injunction to pull down electoral list posted publicly by separatist group | CBC News

A court injunction obtained by Elections Alberta on Thursday has forced an Alberta separatist group to shut down an online database built from an electoral list that contained personal information of millions of Albertans.

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CBC (www.cbc.ca)

I hope (though doubt) that the end result is to eliminate the practice of sharing electoral lists with political parties. There's no legitimate need for it. Parties can independently assess the eligibility of anyone who wants to become a party member. And when campaigning, it's not like they'll skip door-knocking just because an address is not on a list — there could still be a potential voter whose registration isn't up to date.

And, too many small parties are staffed with people who don't have the training or desire to protect confidential government datasets.

PS, how they identified the source: "Court heard that each electoral list legitimately released by Elections Alberta includes a certain number of fictitious — or 'salted' — names."

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/4f8ab6d5-99c4-4468-84f8-fcc7c3f537cc/alberta-s-electoral-list-names-amp-addresses-of-every-registered-voter-in-the-province-was-posted-publicly-on-the-web-by-a-pro-separation-group-who-got-it-from-the-republican-party-of-alberta-an-also-ran-pro-separatist-political-party.RSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 08:28:59 GMTThu, 30 Apr 2026 17:44:48 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Alberta's electoral list (names &amp; addresses of every registered voter in the province) was posted publicly on the web by a pro-separation group who got it from the Republican Party of Alberta, an also-ran pro-separatist political party. on Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:47:35 GMT]]>@ScribblersEmporium Yeah. If the group doesn't fight the injunction & the web portal gets taken down quickly, they'll probably get away with slap on the wrist, don't do that again, minor fine to the party that leaked it.

I can't see an actual change to the legislation while the current political party is in power.

Or while any political party is in power, really.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/AmeliasBrain/statuses/116495381669093261https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/AmeliasBrain/statuses/116495381669093261Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:47:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Alberta's electoral list (names &amp; addresses of every registered voter in the province) was posted publicly on the web by a pro-separation group who got it from the Republican Party of Alberta, an also-ran pro-separatist political party. on Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:43:48 GMT]]>@AmeliasBrain

If EA is anything like the AER, this will be massaged into a nothing burger by Saturday.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/ScribblersEmporium/statuses/116495366801890692https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/ScribblersEmporium/statuses/116495366801890692Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:43:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Alberta's electoral list (names &amp; addresses of every registered voter in the province) was posted publicly on the web by a pro-separation group who got it from the Republican Party of Alberta, an also-ran pro-separatist political party. on Thu, 30 Apr 2026 18:29:28 GMT]]>@AmeliasBrain In a health democracy, the list of names on your ballot is going to have a higher percentage of crackpots than the general population - electoral politics is the kind of thing crackpots are naturally into.

So maybe we shouldn't give the self-selecting crackpot group, information we consider sensitive and privacy-impacting.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/dragonfrog/statuses/116495074515548628https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/dragonfrog/statuses/116495074515548628Thu, 30 Apr 2026 18:29:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Alberta's electoral list (names &amp; addresses of every registered voter in the province) was posted publicly on the web by a pro-separation group who got it from the Republican Party of Alberta, an also-ran pro-separatist political party. on Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:56:16 GMT]]>@AmeliasBrain So they effectively doxxed 2.9m people. I really hope this a criminal offence...

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/ap/users/116274797274577715/statuses/116494943907097584https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/ap/users/116274797274577715/statuses/116494943907097584Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:56:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Alberta's electoral list (names &amp; addresses of every registered voter in the province) was posted publicly on the web by a pro-separation group who got it from the Republican Party of Alberta, an also-ran pro-separatist political party. on Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:51:42 GMT]]>@AmeliasBrain Sometimes the big parties don't even use the official list; they buy a list from marketing agencies instead.

(Not a comforting thought, really.)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mpjgregoire/statuses/116494925970359144https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mpjgregoire/statuses/116494925970359144Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:51:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Alberta's electoral list (names &amp; addresses of every registered voter in the province) was posted publicly on the web by a pro-separation group who got it from the Republican Party of Alberta, an also-ran pro-separatist political party. on Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:51:15 GMT]]>@anyGould Sure, but like with door knocking, it's not really necessary to use the list: you can just use Canada Post lists to send things to every address in a postal code, registered voter or not. You wouldn't get to personalize the name on your MLA Christmas card mailout, but that's it.

The only legitimate use for the electoral list is to quickly verify someone's eligibility when they go to vote.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/AmeliasBrain/statuses/116494924219045587https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/AmeliasBrain/statuses/116494924219045587Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:51:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Alberta's electoral list (names &amp; addresses of every registered voter in the province) was posted publicly on the web by a pro-separation group who got it from the Republican Party of Alberta, an also-ran pro-separatist political party. on Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:47:43 GMT]]>@AmeliasBrain An easy solution may be to have EA act as a portal - you want to mail everyone in your riding? Pay EA and they'll send it to everyone on their list.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://kind.social/users/anyGould/statuses/116494910332741841https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://kind.social/users/anyGould/statuses/116494910332741841Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:47:43 GMT