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By the Center for Digital Government

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Although defunct political Web site Voter.com appears to be within its rights in auctioning off its huge customer list, privacy advocates say the move still raises concerns for online consumers.

"When you interact with a site, you dont think about the fact that they may go bankrupt and sell that information later," said Ari Schwartz, a policy analyst of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).

While Voter.com appears to be adhering to the letter of the law in selling the list, the move "still does run [contrary] to individual expectations of privacy online," he added.

Founded in November 1999 by former Clinton administration advisor Craig Smith, Voter.com announced in February that it was closing down for good, citing tight financial markets and a dearth of available capital.

Voter.coms slick Web site is now gone, but in its place the company has posted a list of Voter.com assets that are now up for sale to the highest bidder.

Arguably the most appetizing item on the auction block is Voter.coms 170,000-person subscriber list, which includes e-mail addresses, demographic information and, in many cases, personally identifiable data, including political party affiliation.

But according to Voter.coms asset-sale document, the firm intends to abide by its own posted privacy policy in selling the subscriber list.

"Under the Voter.com privacy policy, this list may only be sold to an entity that will provide personalized political news and information to the subscribers," the document explained. "The subscriber list will be sold either on an exclusive basis or on a non-exclusive basis to the four highest bidders on that basis."

Because Voter.com appears to be abiding by its own privacy framework, outcry over its proposed list auction has been somewhat muted, as privacy advocates concede that the company appears to be abiding by the letter, if not the spirit, of accepted online-privacy guidelines.

Schwartz said it was ironic that initial reports of the Voter.com subscriber sell-off came out within hours of the U.S. Senate passing legislation aimed at preventing bankrupt Internet firms from selling their subscriber lists.

David McGuire, Newsbytes