Dutch Voter Guide Website Leak Highlights Privacy Concerns

A data leak from StemWijzer, a Dutch voter guide website, has raised questions about its intentions and whether it is quietly conducting popularity polls and infringing upon voters' privacy, Reuters reports. Security researcher Loran Kloeze discovered that a record of voters' preference was being maintained by the site, which could potentially influence trends ahead of the March 15 elections in the Netherlands.

Anita de Jong of website designer ProDemos said vulnerabilities pointed out by Kloeze had been resolved and clarified the intention was not to offer voting advice but only to educate voters.

StemWijzer requires a site visitor to answer 30 questions and then tells him which political party matches his views the best. The leaked data currently places Labour Party in the second place after Party for Freedom even though opinion polls do not reflect this.

Countries going to the polls this year are working overtime to address cybersecurity concerns, following multiple hacking incidents during the US presidential election last year.

For the full story, read Reuters.