I received an email yesterday from “The Consumer Watchdog Campaign.”  They apparently want the government to impose price controls on health insurance in California.  I was curious how they got my name, since I am clearly not the target market, so I followed the link and found that they had used the voter registration records.

Source Information for your Email Address

Information

Optin Status:Opted InEmail Address:s*********w@m**.comEmail Type:not specified, defaulted to MIMEDate and time signed up:January 26, 2012 at 11:50:44 AM (PST)A description of how your email address was obtained:California Voter Registration Public Records

Political advocates and candidates have used lists of addresses compiled from the voter records for a long time but this was the first time that I have seen one where they used my email address.  Does the county registrar of voters have the right to do that?  What controls are in place.

It feels to me like a divide has been crossed.