North County Times - North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County columnists

One can go online at fundrace.org and click "neighbor search" to find everyone in the neighborhood ---- and the city, for that matter ---- who contributed at least $200 to a Democratic presidential candidate or to Bush's re-election campaign.

Or, one can type the name of a neighbor, local activist or mayor to see if he or she is trying to influence the 2004 presidential race.

The ease with which people can learn how more than 200,000 Americans are spending their money is unsettling to some whose names pop up on the computer screen at the click of a mouse.

But operators say the site should not be unsettling; all the information is public and was pulled off a Federal Elections Commission database. It's just that Eyebeam made the information particularly easy to retrieve.

"I had no idea," said Judy Myerson, 63, a consultant for San Diego Regional Center, a state-funded organization that provides support for disabled people, when told of the new Web site last week.

"I'm surprised that that's on the Web," Myerson said, as she turned on her computer. "I think it's an invasion of my privacy."

In the privacy of one's home

But there it was, right on the screen: Her name, her address and the relatively small contribution she made to Howard Dean earlier this year, all on the screen of her south Escondido home.

Even her profession was listed. Of course, the site operator got that part wrong; it listed her husband's profession, not hers, she said. And it didn't appear to be up-to-date; the list did not mention she had recently contributed to Kerry, with Dean out of the race.

Still, Myerson said she felt uncomfortable about so much personal information being made so public.

"It makes me feel like somebody is snooping into my business, looking over my shoulder," she said. "It makes me extremely suspicious about whoever put that Web site together, about what they are trying to do."

Then she noticed other names on the screen.

"I'll be a son of a gun," Myerson said. "I can just scroll down here and see all of my friends and neighbors ... I feel guilty even looking at this list."

Her husband, Gary, a special education professor at San Diego State University, said he felt uncomfortable, too.

"It's kind of a Big Brotherish sort of thing," he said.

It's the kind of thing that makes 25-year-old software engineer Jeff Simpson of Escondido never contribute to a political campaign again.

"It's kind of interesting to know this, but it is not any of my business," Simpson said.

Too much information

It wouldn't be so bad if the site listed only one's name, hometown and contribution, he said. But it lists more than that ---- home address, occupation and employer.

"The fact of the matter is, this kind of information could endanger someone's life," Simpson said. "It's just another way of finding someone."

A few streets over, 85-year-old Escondido resident Phil Hoadley, retired owner of Pyramid Granite Co., was more amused than alarmed.

"That Internet is something else, isn't it?" Hoadley said.

He said he didn't mind, however, that his $475 in contributions to Howard Dean were open for all to see.

"Considering what I think of George Bush, I donated to him (Dean) a lot of money," Hoadley said. "There's nothing I'm ashamed of, that's for sure. Now, if it showed that I donated to the communists, that might be different."

Joan Sparkman of Murrieta, chairwoman of the Mt. San Jacinto Community College Board and former member of the Temecula school board, said she wasn't the least worried about people discovering her $2,000 contribution to Bush's campaign.

"I think it's fine," Sparkman said. "I don't have anything to hide, and I don't know why anybody should."

It's about time information about political contributions is made easily accessible to the public, she said.

"We hide behind too many things," Sparkman said. "And we ought to be out in front, saying, 'I believe in that.'"

The fine print

Michael Frumin, research and development fellow at Eyebeam, said no one should be ashamed of political contributions. That was the whole point, he said, of the federal McCain-Feingold law passed in 2002 ---- that political fund raising should be transparent. Among other things, the legislation banned "soft money" contributions to political parties that could be used for any purpose the parties chose.

If some contributors did not realize their political contributions were public information, Frumin said, "they didn't read the fine print."

Jonah Peretti, director of research and development, who teamed with Frumin to construct the site, said, "We're not trying to support a particular candidate or a particular point of view. This is sort of extending the spirit of the McCain-Feingold legislation to the masses."

And so far the masses are checking out the site.

Fundrace.org is receiving a million hits a day from people sorting through 275,000 names catalogued by ZIP code and distance from viewer, Frumin said.

In clicking "neighbor search," the program asks for an address and zip code. And up pops every person who has given at least $200 to a Democratic or Republican presidential candidate this year ---- no Green or Libertarian party donations are listed. The list includes every contributor with the same first two ZIP-code digits, meaning a local search will bring up one's neighborhood first but eventually most of San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties.

One can also search for specific names. Bill Gates is one of the most popular subjects, Frumin said.

There also are maps showing which areas of the country contribute to Republicans primarily and which to Democrats. And the site highlights spending trends in the 10 largest metropolitan areas, the closest being Los Angeles.

So far the group has received 150 e-mail comments ---- but only about 10 complaints, he said.

Eyebeam has taken one item off the list. That was a credit card number that the nonprofit group accidentally posted, he said, and it was immediately removed.

But Eyebeam is not taking contribution reports or home addresses off.

"We're not taking off any information that the FEC intended to be out there," Frumin said.

Asked who those million surfers a day are, he responded, "everybody." Curious next-door neighbors, political consultants, politicians, you name it, he said.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-3529 or ddowney@nctimes.com.