
Trump’s data-hungry, invasive app - MindGods
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/21/1004228/trumps-data-hungry-invasive-app-is-a-voter-surveillance-tool-of-extraordinary-scope/
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zaroth
This is an app that supporters choose to install on their own phones.

I’d be much more interested to read about how cellphone location tracking is
used to geotarget campaign ads to unwilling recipients who have not opted in
to receive messages from the campaign, or have their location data shared.

[https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-political-groups-are-
harves...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-political-groups-are-harvesting-
data-from-protesters-11592156142)

~~~
aspenmayer
These tactics might allow coordination in ways which are not allowed under
federal campaign finance regulations. Definitely an area that deserves intense
scrutiny.

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radomysisky
But BLM through ActBlue (DNC) aren't skirting those same regulations?

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jaxn
Are you saying that BLM are coordinating with canidates for elected office
without disclosing the contribution?

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radomysisky
They wouldn't need to. Read ActBlue's own fine print:
[https://secure.actblue.com/content/fineprint](https://secure.actblue.com/content/fineprint)

> In the event that a campaign or committee (a) fails for 60 days to cash a
> check from ActBlue which includes your contribution (after ActBlue makes
> repeated attempts to work with the campaign to ensure all checks are
> cashed), or (b) affirmatively refuses a contribution earmarked through
> ActBlue, your contribution will be re-designated as a contribution to
> ActBlue. Contributions to social welfare organizations which are similarly
> not cashed or affirmatively refused will be kept by ActBlue and used
> generally to support its social welfare activities. Contributions to
> charitable organizations which are not cashed or affirmatively refused will
> go to ActBlue Charities.

~~~
jaxn
Except neither ActBlue nor BLM are political candidates. The rules for PACs
contributing to other PACs are much more lax. The problem arises when a PAC
and a Candidate coordinate strategy and spending without disclosing it as a
contribution (and being subject to contribution limits).

There is nothing unethical in what you posted.

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justinclift
[https://archive.vn/QZH5K](https://archive.vn/QZH5K)

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monksy
Are they essentially doing contact tracing/tracking with the bluetooth
functionality?

~~~
Redoubts
They're exploiting beacons for free location info.

 _" The use of Bluetooth is especially notable because it can capture data and
target people with political messages as they travel through a physical space.
This practice has jumped to politics from the advertising industry. In one
recent example, Bluetooth beacons (the radio transmitters used to track cell-
phone users via Bluetooth signals) were found in campaign yard signs
[[https://mashable.com/article/beacons-location-tracking-
repub...](https://mashable.com/article/beacons-location-tracking-republican-
campaign/)]. In another, people were surveilled using these practices when
they went to church. Our team has been exploring how this phenomenon—which we
term geo-propaganda—has increased."_

~~~
monksy
The fixed points doesn't surprise me. However, I would suspect that they're
using it to identify other devices nearby that aren't apart of the volunteered
group.

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hwestiii
The naive assumption about this is that it will be used to rally supporters
with suspicious or specious “information”, but it makes me wonder about the
opposite. With enough user data and backend analysis, you could probably also
use it as a platform to depress or discourage the activity or engagement of
users determined not to support Trump. Like providing incorrect info about
local voting times, regulations, etc.

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0xy
This isn't novel, and may even be less invasive than tactics used in 2016 by
the Trump campaign and in 2012 by the Obama campaign.

Both of those campaigns siphoned data from Facebook without consent of any of
the users. Trump famously used Cambridge Analytica, while Obama for America's
Director of Data Integration and Media Analytics built up a huge database of
every American voter using data siphoned from the API used by Cambridge
Analytica. [1]

At least now they're explicitly asking for permission (and you actually have
to download an uber-partisan app in the first place).

[1] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/facebooks-
ru...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/facebooks-rules-for-
accessing-user-data-lured-more-than-just-cambridge-
analytica/2018/03/19/31f6979c-658e-43d6-a71f-afdd8bf1308b_story.html)

~~~
vkou
Real-time location data, depending on the context, can be much more dangerous
than Facebook data.

Specifically, it can be dangerous to your immediate health.

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dctoedt
Yes, the title needs to reflect that it's the Trump campaign's app.

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bradknowles
The real title of the article is “Trump’s data-hungry, invasive app is a voter
surveillance tool of extraordinary power”.

~~~
dang
The full article title doesn't fit HN's 80-char limit, so needs to be
shortened. The submitted title was "Data-hungry, invasive app is a voter
surveillance tool of extraordinary power", which would normally be fine, but
popping Trump off the head of the list was probably too much of a change, so
made the title above be a prefix of the original, instead of a suffix.

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Animats
Location info will allow identification of people who downloaded the app but
are not showing location behavior typical of Trump's base. Those people become
persons of interest and can be dealt with later.

~~~
rosstex
>can be dealt with later

mob style?

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downvoteme1
As bad as the app is, as long as it is not illegal and the users knowingly
install it, I don’t see a problem with it . The Biden campaign is also free to
develop such an app and target their supporters. The key to winning any
election is getting your voter base excited to vote. If they targeted
messaging keeps your voter base on their toes and makes them rush to the polls
in November, what is the harm.

~~~
johannes1234321
An issue is that if you target your messages you take the messages out of a
general debate and leave them uncontested. The individual receiver however
can't verify the message easily.

~~~
m0zg
I'd actually pay to see a Trump/Biden debate. I doubt the DNC will allow it
though, for fear of Biden forgetting where he is or what office he's running
for, while on stage. Before you downvote, consider that this has already
happened, several times.

~~~
dathinab
> that this has already happened, several times.

I'm not following US politics close enough to know anything about it. But why
should the democrats try to push an person into power which might have memory
problems caused by age??

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johannes1234321
Why is GOP pushing a candidate who can't walk down a ramp or drink out of a
glass with a single hand.

Or: short video snippets with little context tell little about anything

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m0zg
Trump drank a glass with a single hand specifically for you at a rally (which
Biden is incapable of even drawing a crowd for, without busing people in), and
said, I quote: "General, there's no way I'm going down down this ramp without
falling on my ass. I have no railing." Anyone who has ever worn leather-soled
dress shoes would immediately recognize who he was walking like this.

