LittleSis.org Sheds Light on Big Brother and Friends

LittleSis.org calls itself an “involuntary Facebook.” The site’s goal is to reveal the political, business and personal relationships of government and industry elites. It’s a wiki of rich and powerful policy influencers, and extremely easy to use.

Looking for information on Eric Holder, the newly confirmed Attorney General? A quick name search instantly brings up details ranging from former clients during his days in private law practice (the NFL was one), to close relationships (he and Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s senior adviser, are listed as “personal friends.”)

For each individual, data falls into several categories: Relationships, Interlocks, Giving and Vitals. Similar listings exist for major corporations, and each is self-explanatory and fascinating. From here, delve into friends and colleagues, business or government positions, family, education, and financial contributions. With all this data it’s easy to get lost in figuring out who has served together on corporate Boards of Directors or studied at the same schools around the same time.

All of the information is submitted by registered users, called analysts, who get points for creating or adding to entries. Anything beyond basic details like names needs source information, and there is a helpful how-to page guiding analysts on creating successful profiles.

The site is currently in beta, and there are a lot of notables with bare bones profiles or out of date information, but visitors are encouraged to sign up and fill in the blanks. An API is also in the works so the public can access the site’s data.

LittleSis is a project of the Public Accountability Initiative, a non-profit focused on corporate and government accountability, and sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation, which uses the Internet to make the government’s work more accessible to the public. LittleSis is also on Twitter at @twittlesis.