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Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

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Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#101
post #63

> Spreadsheets containing this accumulated data—last updated around the January 2017 presidential inauguration—constitute a treasure trove of political data and modeled preferences used by the Trump campaign Genuinely curious: can you really have 198 million rows in a spreadsheet?

It’s provably a CSV not meant to be used by excel.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus the supposedly "startlingly accurate" preference and views modeling that is linked to all personal details and publically accessible. While someone could always deny it being correct it again raises questions about responsibility in data collection. > RNC_RegID, State, 2012ObamaVoter_DRA_12_16, 2012RomneyVoter_DRA_12_16, 2016ClintonVoter_DRA_12_16, 2016TrumpVoter_DRA_12_16, AmericaFirstForeignPolicy_agree_DRA_12…

Formatted: RNC_RegID State 2012ObamaVoter_DRA_12_16 2012RomneyVoter_DRA_12_16 2016ClintonVoter_DRA_12_16 2016TrumpVoter_DRA_12_16 AmericaFirstForeignPolicy_agree_DRA_12_16 AmericaFirstForeignPolicy_disagree_DRA_12_16 AutoCompaniesShipJobsOverseas_agree_DRA_12_16 AutoCompaniesShipJobsOverseas_disagree_DRA_12_16 CorpReputs_AmericanMakers_DRA_12_16 CorpReputs_DailyLives_DRA_12_16 CorpReputs_Egalitarians_DRA_12_16 CorpRe…

How could one tell if a vote is "reluctant" or not, based on the available data?

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#105
“‘Microtargeting is trying to unravel your political DNA,’ [Gage] said. ‘The more information I have about you, the better.’ The more information [Gage] has, the better he can group people into "target clusters" with names such as ‘Flag and Family Republicans’ or ‘Tax and Terrorism Moderates.’ Once a person is defined, finding the right message from the campaign becomes fairly simple.”

Neal Stephenson wrote a book called Interface which predicted a form of tech-enabled micro-targeted politics over 20 years ago. It was disturbing at the time; it's almost considered business-as-usual now.

I believe American democracy would benefit from including the study of such techniques in our educational curriculum. When I was in school, we studied advertising techniques to help us be skeptical. We need the same for targeted political messages now.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#106
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a US example look at NAACP v. Alabama (1958). If you are on the side of revealing this information, you are on the same side as some pretty unpleasant folks.

> If you are on the side of revealing this information, you are on the same side as some pretty unpleasant folks. I try to pick my sides based on what seems right, not based on who else picks that side. (I do not have a side in this particular fight.)

> I try to pick my sides based on what seems right, not based on who else picks that side.

I look at the picker of sides and their motives to determine the consequences of picking a side. I tend to favor protection of people as a whole.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#107

As long as the CEO of an company (RNC) that gives data to an outsourcer (Deep Root Analytics) is not going to jail to give data to an unqualified company, nothing will change. If the CEO goes to jail, things will change very rapidly (CEO will manage his CMO much tighter who will first want to see an security audit not older than 6 months). At least CEOs I have reported to as CTO were very sensitive for implemention i…

What law did they break, exactly? These aren't medical or financial records. A careless programmer makes a bad choice and the CEO has to go to jail? Come on.

I dunno about the jail part, but the being ultimately responsible for the actions of the people working for you sort of goes with the title.

Like, why is the organization set up so that 1 programmer can make a catastrophic mistake? The CEO is responsible for that.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the KKK and Jim Crow supporters were a bit farther up the ladder of 'unpleasant'. 'Unpleasant' being used in the same meaning and tone as a southern lady saying "aren't you special".

In their day they were only mildly unpleasant. Furthermore, those groups they believed they were acting to promote policy that believed was in the best interest of the nation, regardless of how we see them in hindsight. Imagine if there existed similar databases then. Would you hire someone if you knew they were firmly pro-segregation at age 20-something in 1950-something?

The context of the time doesn't make the actions of the KKK any less unpleasant or disgusting. Lynchings and laws codified to keep non white people sub citizens are and were far beyond unpleasant, whether the majority of white people at the time believed so or not.

Re: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

#109

As long as the CEO of an company (RNC) that gives data to an outsourcer (Deep Root Analytics) is not going to jail to give data to an unqualified company, nothing will change. If the CEO goes to jail, things will change very rapidly (CEO will manage his CMO much tighter who will first want to see an security audit not older than 6 months). At least CEOs I have reported to as CTO were very sensitive for implemention i…

What law did they break, exactly? These aren't medical or financial records. A careless programmer makes a bad choice and the CEO has to go to jail? Come on.

Gross negligence.

Yes, there has to be REAL consequences, even if its incredibly easy to do. Same goes for setting fires..

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