I’ve switched directions.
I think my new focus for this 2nd Travelogue is a more interesting and more current issue on the internet.
In the heat of this highly contested 2008 Presidential campaign there are two relevant candidates, with each comes a sea of supporters. People of all sorts putting their money toward the candidate they want to see in the White House in 2009. In this blog I will take you on a tour of the website “FUNDRACE.ORG” and then discuss my feelings on the ethical issues surrounding the site, as well as spending time to celebrate the wonders of this compelling search engine. It is the purpose behind FundRace that might be alarming to some, especially the aforementioned contributors, in this election season. FundRace provides a service that allows anyone with Internet access to look up the exact contributions of PRIVATE CITIZENS.
FundRace has all the bells and whistles as it manages to answer the question “who gave how much exactly to which candidate exactly, when exactly, and exactly how many times?.”
It seems funny that this is about the most transparent matter I can think of on the Internet in regards to election funding, and it only exposes the views and donations of private individuals. It is with certainty we can assume many of the people found on the website FundRace, would not wish to be found there, especially knowing the exact monetary amount of each one of their contributions is available to the open public. This certaintly raises questions as to where information such as this fits in the public sphere of the internet.
Let us get down to business…
The home page of FundRace had grown much more whoreish in my recent visits research for this post, it had been a couple of years since I had last logged on, probably during the 2006 Midterm elections. It seems they realized what lay at the heart of their greatest earning potential… gossip.
Their warm welcome is as follows.
Welcome to FundRace 2008.
Want to know if a celebrity is playing both sides of the fence? Whether that new guy you’re seeing is actually a Republican or just dresses like one? If your boss maxed out at that fundraiser or got comped? Whether your neighbor’s political involvement stops at that hideous lawn sign?
FundRace makes it easy to search by name or address to see which presidential candidates your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors are contributing to. Or you can see if your favorite celebrity is putting their money where their mouth is.
FundRace gives you the technology to do what politicians and journalists have been doing for years: find out where the money’s coming from, see who it’s going to, and solve the mystery of why that crazy ex-roommate of yours is now the Ambassador to Turks and Caicos.
Damn, that seems pretty spicy for a political resource!
Here’s what I came up with in my carousing about their site.
You call it New Media Research Studio, I’ll research some old media, my middle school computer teacher! Searching my home zip code I was able to browse a well endowed list full of people their donations and their exact address.
Laurie Bartels
Donation of $625 to Presidential elections
Laurie Bartels
Donation of $500 to Presidential elections
$1,225 given by this address.
$0 to Republicans
$1,225 to Democrats
I only wonder how Mrs. Bartels would feel about how easily I accessed this intimate political information of hers.
FundRace comes equipped with five available search options, so it lends a very helping hand to even the computer illiterate when trying to obtain this information. The Entry Fields are as folllows:
1-Street Address & Zip Code
2-City
3-Last Name & First Name
4-Occupation
5-Employer
Past any ethical questions about the appropriateness of politcal information being public, in the greater scheme of the internet, you must realize the detailed information found on FundRace is sort of alarming. Political Affiliations, Home Addresses, Occupation and/or Employer, and exact monetary figures are all available through FundRace’s simple search.
Check back for comprehensive research on reactions to and operations of FundRace.org.
Last night I was in a panic. I didn’t know where my travelogue was going. I felt like I hadn’t posted enough. I felt like I didn’t have enough information. Then I realized: the reason my travelogue didn’t 
So far I’ve 
The New Media Embed Program
