#DetroitWater - a sign of things to come?

Here's a website that allows anyone to pay the water bill (or part of the bill) owed by someone in Detroit. Lest we grow complacent, allow me to point out several noteworthy - dare I say, almost astonishing - things about this from the perspective of (what else) digital civil society:

• The city of Detroit is so broke it's cutting off water to residents.
• Many people in Detroit can't afford to pay for water.
• People are taking to the street and online to protest - and the fight is on between privatized water systems and water as a common good (this is common fight in many parts of the world, and there is a strong "water is a human right" movement)
• Web technology built by a handful (two, I think) of people is up and running to help strangers help strangers.
• There are no intermediary organizations in this mix - donors pay bills directly to and through Detroit's public water department. The creators built the site, money goes to the water authority, donors and residents don't interact.
• PRIVACY is addressed as key issue on the site - both from the residents' and the donors' standpoints. And no grand promises are made.

I tried to get some more information about #DetroitWater but haven't heard back from the folks that I emailed. Here's what I asked them:

• You mention in the privacy section that Detroit Water might identify residents. How likely is this, how would it happen, has it happened?
• What kind of permission did you need to get from Detroit Water Auth to use this info? How did you get the info?
• Are residents opting in or opting out of this? Who is deciding and how are they deciding who's bills get paid?
• Where is transaction data being stored? How secure is it?
• Is CFA involved in this (one of the founders has a CFA email address)? Did you create this totally on your own? Others who helped? How long did it take?