ParoleWatch was a privately-run website started in 1997 that provided public access to data on convicted felons in New York State who were coming up for parole review.
New York divorce lawyer Raoul Felder served as chairman of ParoleWatch's advisory board, "which also includes several well-known victims' rights advocates.
In an interview with Wired, Take Back New York Executive Director Joe Diamond responded to the ACLU's objections by "conced[ing] that Parolewatch 'is not overly concerned with the prisoner's point of view.
'"[6] Shapiro wrote that, as a victims' rights organization, ParoleWatch was "fully entitled to express its views on crime and safety" and that law-and-order advocates have always "had the ability to lobby parole boards."
It uses the pinpoint accuracy of a computer database to match citizens in certain neighborhoods with felons who might be released there, and it relies on the Net's interactivity to give folks a free and easy way to voice their opposition—without having to take time to become well informed, let alone to hear the views of others."