A contentious question on the California ballot in 2008 inspired a simple online innovation: a website called Eightmaps.com. The number in the name referred to Proposition 8, which called for the state's constitution to be amended to prohibit gay marriage. Under California's campaign finance laws, all donations greater than $100 to groups advocating for or against Proposi- tion 8 were recorded in a publicly accessible database. Someone (it's still not clear who) took all the data about the proposition's supporters-their names and zip codes, and their employers in some cases-and plotted it on a Google map.
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