What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
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What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
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Re: What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
#2I suppose "filtered" makes a less exciting headline than "hacked voter database" but wow is there ever a gulf between how this has been covered and what happened. Thanks for this.
Re: What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
#3This is OT but I wanted to ask before: what does the "Jacobin" in Jacobin Mag refer to? Presumably not the more genocidal fraction of the French Revolution which was my first guess?
Re: What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
#4[deleted]
Re: What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
#5Interesting read, especially for those of us who have no idea what technology is available for candidates these days. Clearly every one of us exists in these databases (I assume the GOP has such a thing too) and are connected to other data like what we buy or what we belong to. Seeing this data is shared between candidates I wonder how easy it would be for people to manipulate the data for the benefit of one candidate or another. All it takes is poisoning the entries and you could mislead a candidate's plans.
Re: What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
#6This is OT but I wanted to ask before: what does the "Jacobin" in Jacobin Mag refer to? Presumably not the more genocidal fraction of the French Revolution which was my first guess?
It's become more of a broad term in politics that was at first mostly critical (implying much the same of what you're saying here) before being later adopted by the people who see themselves as _very_ left.
Re: What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
#7Interesting read, especially for those of us who have no idea what technology is available for candidates these days. Clearly every one of us exists in these databases (I assume the GOP has such a thing too) and are connected to other data like what we buy or what we belong to. Seeing this data is shared between candidates I wonder how easy it would be for people to manipulate the data for the benefit of one candidat…
Amusingly, there's a similar database sold by the Georgia Secretary of State. Recently they accidentally included the social security number of every registered voter in the database they distributed. If I recall the news article correctly, they mailed it out on CD to 6 different customers before noticing the mistake.
Re: What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
#8How on earth is stuff like that legal? Being interrupted in my life by robocalls, cold calls, calls from "statistic polls", people arriving unnoticed at my door to waffle about politicians, mail ads... that's intrusive-as-hell advertising. If I were a US voter, I'd do everything but not vote for anyone intruding in my life!
And why is it legal for ANYONE to (ab)use the public voter register for ANY kind of gain, be it personal, commercial or political?
(note: I'm from Germany, where politicians aren't totally crazy)
Re: What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
#9How on earth is stuff like that legal? Being interrupted in my life by robocalls, cold calls, calls from "statistic polls", people arriving unnoticed at my door to waffle about politicians, mail ads... that's intrusive-as-hell advertising. If I were a US voter, I'd do everything but not vote for anyone intruding in my life! And why is it legal for ANYONE to (ab)use the public voter register for ANY kind of gain, be i…
Crazy is relative.
But I do find it incredibly worrying how much data campaigns can get their hands on in the USA - I'm pretty sure Australia's rules regarding access to the electoral roll pretty much prohibit it ever being used to target voters in a campaign.
Re: What Really Happened With the DNC’s “Datagate”?
#10Interesting read, especially for those of us who have no idea what technology is available for candidates these days. Clearly every one of us exists in these databases (I assume the GOP has such a thing too) and are connected to other data like what we buy or what we belong to. Seeing this data is shared between candidates I wonder how easy it would be for people to manipulate the data for the benefit of one candidat…
Amusingly, there's a similar database sold by the Georgia Secretary of State. Recently they accidentally included the social security number of every registered voter in the database they distributed. If I recall the news article correctly, they mailed it out on CD to 6 different customers before noticing the mistake.
Voter registration databases are available from the Secretary of States office in each state. Anyone can request a file dump; however, some states often charge a small fee for the file. GOP and NDP use different tech stacks, but both are tied to companies (like NGP) that have built processes around obtaining and updating voter registration data yearly from each state. They then tie in historic data they have from door to door canvassing, voter turn out, and any other touch points to build a profile about the voter. Typical data points include voting history, gender, various voter level flags indicating if the voter supports causes/activism, and any other notes or voter related data.