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Minnesota GOP's CD Raises Privacy Concerns
doginthewoods writes to tell us the ThinkProgress blog is reporting that the Minnesota Republican Party has been distributing a new CD about a recent proposed amendment. The CD poses questions about some of the hot-button issues like abortion, gun control, and illegal immigration. The problem with this CD, however, is that it "phones home" to the Minnesota GOP, without making it clear that your name is attached. So, if you take a look at the CD and take time to answer the questions, beware. Once you are finished they will know not only who you are, but where you stand on the issues at hand.
If you submit a form with your name on it... it submits your form with your name on it?!! The shock! The horror!
Anyway, the real story, if you actually read, is that the information you submit is supposedly available on a publicly accessible website.
Isn't this technically spyware? Illegal spyware, nonetheless?
yes they do
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Still can't be any worse than Quake 4
Hey! The republicans are the new fascists... They want to tag and follow anyone...
firewall
Who do you think was going to read your answers to the questions you asked?
Evidently, there's no notice that the information is submitted or sent beyond your computer, AND the information is publicly available. So, there's more to the story than an insecure web site.
Sounds like the Minnesota GOP thought the Sony DRM fiasco was pretty nifty.
Kythe
Im really glad i live in Minnesota... not to mention the damn cold.. brrrr
You people who pretend to care about privacy should look at your tax forms some time. Do you support a repeal of the income tax for privacy reasons?
(No. Without income taxes, you wouldn't get to spend money you didn't earn.)
From the story, it appears as though the CD is billed as an interactive issue advertisement: as in, you put the CD in, it asks you questions designed to get you riled up, then tells you about the issue, without any notice that the information is sent somewhere.
Of course, the story could be wrong or incomplete.
Kythe
I for one am shocked -SHOCKED- to see such behavior from a party that espouses both "small government" and keeping it's nose out of our business. This is completely out of character with the current administration, and I'm sure will be responsibly acknowledged and dealt with. Expect a public mea culpa from the president shortly.
Snickersnee3: Build your own 3-watt Luxeon Star headlamp from scratch
MPR post with screenshots
Original MPR article
My name is Aaron Landry, and I approve this message.
From part of his story at Minnesota Public Radio.
BEGIN QUOTE:
I wrote:
I really enjoyed the production work on the CD for the marriage amendment. It was first-rate stuff and as a Flash novice, made me a little bit envious. The copy that Tom Scheck gave me required an access code. Do all the CDs being mailed out come with an access code? If so, I'm curious as to why that is and wondering if the "votes" I'm asked to take during the presentation are reported back to the MN GOP? And, if so, are they matched to the access code and do you keep a record of what code is mailed to what person?
Mark was kind enough to respond promptly:
Thank you for the kind words regarding the high tech merits of the cd. Like any political survey done by the Party, it is our hope the cd will help us recruit more volunteers, provide valuable voter ID information and hopefully allow us to raise money so we can continue to send the cd out to more Minnesotans. On Friday, the cd will be released to the public. The cd's packaging will make clear that the cd is interactive in nature.
A follow-up e-mail from me:
So by interactive in nature, do you mean the results are being reported back to the GOP and, if so, are they identified by the access code?
And a response:
Yes- very similar process to if you got a free AOL cd at the grocery store.
zork% mv *.asp
283 files eaten by a grue
If it is spyware, it would be cool if a guy could get it widely distributed as an iso so everyone could test how strong the servers are in Minnesota and fill their tables up with worthless data... that would teach 'em, you betcha!
Just from a quick glance, there are five "politics" articles on slashdot today, none have anything to do with real politics in any meaningful sense.
Can the editors just trash this section? It totally blows.
Oh come on, it's not like the Republicans weren't reading your email and listening to you phone calls anyway. You just never got around to the juicy stuff. So they finally just had to come right out and ask. You see what you made them do? Gawd! You're so whiny! And you talk to your mom waaay too much, dude. Seriously. They told me. And yeah, it's probably infected, you should have it looked at.
you gotta look on the bright side, eh... that cool weather you got right now keeps those mosquitoes down and it keeps the water hard enough to go ice fishin'
Warning: spoilers below! skip this comment if you plan to RTFA!!!
That information is on a public Web site...the experts I talked with suggested that having it so readily available is "amazingly stupid" of any data mining company.
Funny and scary at the same time.
Even scarier is:
In fact, the mailing list of more than 259,000 names is also on the site, and easily downloaded.
Amazingly stupid indeed.
Typically they're more vocal in opposition to their positions on hotbutton issues being known.
It's the liberals who more often are advocates of a free flow of information -- OpenSecrets.org, for example, which while bipartisan is used an awful lot by the left to point out who gets corporate money.
I would expect a fair number of "closet" bigots to be furious shortly. Much bigger number than the other side.
...Woooooooosh!
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
So go ahead, block it. See if I care what happens.
You have to consider that the personal information, such as name and phone number, are probably there to keep people from voting more than once. Also, if you're filling out a form about your opinions and submitting it - whether it says you're sending it elsewhere or not - you're submitting it, for crap's sake. To submit means to turn something in. It's common sense, really.
Without a privacy policy, the state party can tell your views to anyone at all. If you give the "wrong" answers on abortion or other issues, they can tell your boss, members of your church, or anyone else. In fact, these answers could get distributed to campaigns in your town during get-out-the-vote efforts - precisely the place where "wrong" answers can be most damaging.
I'll believe it when I see it - if anyone really did that, it would be on the news in a heartbeat anyway. And - once again, common sense - it's just not going to happen.
What's worse. That information is on a public Web site. I'm not going to tell you what site we found it on, just to let you know that the data is there. And it can be found. Easily so. In fact, the experts I talked with suggested that having it so readily available is "amazingly stupid" of any data mining company.
Well that doesn't sound all so credible to me, but it does beg some consideration. It does sound like a privacy issue to me. But wait a minute - look at that image a little more closely. All I see is a bunch of names and dates and numbers - no opinions. If someone can prove that the opinions are shown, it's fairly serious. Otherwise, although many people may feel uncomfortable or intruded upon for it, it's only names. So do us all a favor and don't get the wrong impression.
I thought the title "Minnesota GOP's CD Raises Privacy Concerns" meant that the Republican Party was distributing a CD to inform people about privacy laws being thrown out the window... I should've known better.
Once you vote on the GOP-supported electronic voting machines, they will probably know how you would have voted if your vote had actually been counted.
Good grief, can we whore some liberal blogs a little more? Why not just link to the original Minnesota Public Radio article? Public radio isn't frothing at the mouth liberal enough for Slashdot now?
As for the actual charge, there is not even close to enough facts on just how much disclosure the packaging/eula has so it is hard to say much. But I'd assume the CD will come in a envelope with the Republican Party's name splattered all over it and that it will be mailed to people registered (and therefore in their computers, you did know that your voter registration is a matter of public record, right?) Republicans. So who is behind it and who will be getting the information should be fairly easy to suss out. And anybody with half a clue (i.e. most Republicans) will know the answers to this 'survey' will be heading to party HQ and used to target more fundraising appeals to ya. Because if you have EVER donated to a political party or organization you know that fundraising is job one. If that CD doesn't include a postage paid return envelope and beg letter asking the reader to give till it hurts they need a new party chairman.
Democrat delenda est
the funny thing is that this could easily turn against them. what if their enemies took the CD, and had many people answer the questions contrary to what the GOP would want to publish?
they would in effect be promoting the opinions they seek to disregard.
How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen Karl Hungus?
This is insufferable - we will not stand for any stinkin' politicians finding out where we stand on important issues.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
It's rumored that version 2.0 will contain a GPS-enhanced RFID tag that surreptitiously penetrates you subcutaneously. This is so that the GOP underground wing can anally probe you at will. That'll teach ya to support fag weddings!
"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that ones work is terribly important." -BRussell
The IRS is limited in what it can reveal about your tax information. See here for more information. The republican party is under no such restrictions.
AccountKiller
Something is not right with the so-called 'packet captures' provided by the person that wrote the article on the Minnesota Public Radio site (http://www.publicradio.org/columns/minnesota/poli naut/):
And let's assume -- and remember this is a hypothetical here -- I had enough intelligence to decompile the program and figure out what data is being captured and sent. Could I do it?
Yes. Someone did.
No.", "Time", "Source", "Destination", "Protocol", "Info" "1", "17:11:52.780492305", "192.168.125.128", "10.2.2.81", "TCP", "1106 > http [SYN] Seq=0 Ack=0 Win=64240 Len=0 MSS=1460" "2", "17:11:52.794481754", "10.2.2.81", "192.168.125.128", "TCP", "http > 1106 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=64240 Len=0 MSS=1460" "3", "17:11:52.799275636", "192.168.125.128", "10.2.2.81", "TCP", "1106 > http [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=64240 Len=0" "4", "17:11:52.806763172", "192.168.125.128", "10.2.2.81", "TCP", "[TCP segment of a reassembled PDU]"
Now that's pretty basic stuff: what your IP is, what your CPU is, what your operating system is. But is it possible to find out what your answers are to the questions? Including your phone number, your address, your name, your spouse's name and how you vote?
Yes. Someone did.
The IP addresses listed in the snipet above are both part of IANA-reserved ranges for internal use.
So, until they show the real packet contents, I'm calling bullshit on the conspiracy theory, and tell refer them to the first post on this thread.
"We'll need 2000 crickets, 4 cans of Easy Cheese, and the fluid from 18 glowsticks for this plan to work...." - ph0n1c
Wow, this makes how many politics articles this week? And all of them attacking either the GOP or the Bush Administration. The editors don't even know how to be subtle about their political prejudices anymore. And doing a story from a political blog?
Can we just go ahead and put a DNC icon in the Slashdot logo now? Just be honest and get it over with, eh?
Seriously, editors...are you trying to drive conservatives away from the site? Is it intentional?
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
So does claiming that Republicans are reactionary vocal bigots make you a bigot?
"A bigot is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from their own."
Hmmm...
Also, I find it somewhat interesting that you use opensecrets as an example of a site used mostly by the left. it's funny, becuase I've always thought the opposite--that it shows just how much corporate money goes to Democrats, top donors etc. That's the good thing about the site though, it shows EVERYONE's info.
It also places an absentee vote for all Republican cannidates in the next election. The fact the disk was authored by Diebold should have been a clue. It did make me suspicous that it asked for the names of any friends or relatives that died in the last year. Look on the brightside we may finally have 110% voter turnout.
Sending out a CD with inadequate privacy notifications is not Fascism
if you receieve an un-solicited CD thru the mail, you stick it in your CD drive and see what happens?
:)
You guys crack me up
need a free COBOL editor for Windows?
If you are a right-thinking American, what do you have to fear ;-)
Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. -Groucho Marx
you folks don't get it.
i slation/
1 040953/k.522/Press_Release__So_Called_Right_of_Pri vacy.htm
the GOP has spent a lot of time and effort enforcing the idea that there is no right to privacy guaranteed in the Constitution.
from Scalia's speeches to select groups, to recent SCOTUS decisions, they are slowly making it clear the the individual has no constitutional right to privacy.
so it stands to reason that business and political interest can garner whatever information they deem necessary without your permission.
this is not a trollish post..it's the truth. please reference these pieces for more information:
http://txfx.net/2005/03/15/scalia-on-judicial-leg
http://www.savethecourt.org/site/c.mwK0JbNTJrF/b.
and then there is this from the People for the American Way
"On the broader constitutional issue of privacy, Scalia's and Thomas' views are so extreme that their rulings would also do widespread damage by reaching beyond the specific issue of abortion to threaten access to contraception and reproductive health services. In opinions such as Casey and Scalia's concurring 1990 opinion in Cruzan v. Missouri Department of Health,33 they contend that the Constitution does not protect any right of privacy concerning reproduction or bodily integrity whatsoever. If this view comes to command a majority of the Supreme Court, it would threaten landmark decisions like the 1965 ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, 196534 and could permit state laws banning the sale or use of contraceptives or similar steps to violate privacy rights long taken for granted by all Americans. Such an outcome may seem highly unlikely, but the ongoing controversy over approval of RU-486, for example, is a reminder that laws are sometimes more responsive to pressure groups than to broad public opinion."
Is it 5:30 yet?
Once you are finished they will know not only who you are, but where you stand on the issues at hand.
OH NO! I *definitely* don't want a politician to know what I think! How could he possibly act purely within his own interests if we bombard him with our own opinions?
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
(disclaimer: insane leftist psycho)
Apparently us liberals are now terrified of anyone knowing our opinions. Yeah, it's bad that there are no privacy concerns in the terms of use, and I'm not surprised that Republicans are trying to hide their underhanded methods of stealing information.
But crap, they aren't getting my social, or the combination to my luggage (12345). Don't you WANT the government to know how you feel on the issues? Isn't that the point of a democratic society? And your boss? Your church? Why be so afraid to think what you think?
I don't know, I guess I can see some people wanting that information private. That can't be the majority view, though...
---
"how can the same street intersect with itself? i must be at the nexus of the universe!" - cosmo kramer
than voting?
nm
Program Access Control.
An excellent source of information to fill the form with
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
This is even more silly than that.
and ill have the source code up in 2 minutes
Linux is STILL for fags.
Of course, he was of a different opinion when his Social Security Number became pubic domain.
> And anybody with half a clue (i.e. most Republicans) will know the answers to this 'survey' will be heading to party HQ and used to target more fundraising appeals to ya.
That's right, because all good Party-Loving Republicans expect their politicians to be tapping their wires, err, I mean invading their privacy.
So does claiming that Republicans are reactionary vocal bigots make you a bigot?
"A bigot is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from their own."
Not if you can read.
It is bad that they would collect information without informing you but GOD FORBID (sarcasm) a politician actually know where people stand on issues. Come on, is this really that big of a deal? I would gladly hand over my name and opinion if I knew my local congressman would actually give a damn.
Propaganda CDs? 0_0
I'm just curious. It seems kinda odd that a post that just spews random "Liberals are evil so we must ignore everything they say" nonsense is a "+4 insightful"
There's no actual content or arguments in the post. The closest it comes is wild speculation about what the packaging looks like.
Is this really what passes for being "Insightful" in this day and age?
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
This could be a fun way to fudge their numbers. ISO torrent please!
Trolling is a art,
there would be "obvious" tag on this.
The primacy of the state over the individual. Or that is its identifying characteristic. There are othere things such as glorification of militarism, extreme nationalism and expantionism that are common denominators among fascist regimes. What most people call fascism is really totalitarianism.
A blog about stuff.
"I rob banks because that's where the money is."
When you control the executive, both houses of Congress, and an increasingly large fraction of the courts, you should probably expect to become the primary target for political attacks. After all, that's where the power is.
And how could you run an attack on the opposition party, seeing as there is none? The Democrats are about as effective as the Whigs, right now, and they don't seem to have the wherewithal to change that.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
Clearly this is a stunt by the liberal media.
0 platform.pdf/platform [pdf]
We the good people of the Minnesota GOP support privacy rights in our http://www.mngop.com/documents/2004%20permanent%2
N. Protecting personal privacy by prohibiting the use of social security numbers for any purpose other than social security identification and prohibiting the collection or release of any personal financial, medical, or other private information by anyone without the express
consent of the person involved.
The GOP is going to use the survey results to propose redistricting that will tip the balance of the legislature towards the right. See gerrymandering, Texas, and DeLay.
The Republican Mods must be out in force tonight. Some Ditto-head jumps up and spew the same old same old talking points, and the mods seem to be lapping it up.
The sad thing is, according to many Republicans today, reporting on ANY negative aspect of Republican actions equates to Liberal fear mongering. The outright Religious faith republicans have in The Shrub is a pathetic thing to see. It's the same mentality that leads people into the sway of televangelists and their ilk.
I guess some people just WANT to be deceived, or are too mind numbingly stupid to realize they're being fooled. How else can one explain the continued existence of the Republican party?
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Its not as if the tax helps the goverment, whats the difference 7 trillion in debt or 17 trillion in debt.
Considering they would wiretap innocent Americans without a warrant ...
The Republicans did that for Al Quaeda suspects. The Democrats did that for Martin Luther King Jr.
Who do you think was going to read your answers to the questions you asked?
;-)
I thought it was an electronic voting simulator.
The most secretive government in US history has no qualms about collecting information on you? Why is this surprising?
a ge/0,5936,18285618%255E1702,00.html
Even more stupidly, they stop 3 year old children whose name even sounds like an Al-quaeda (sp?) member while allowing real members to attend prestigious schools! http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/story_p
Quote from the former Taliban spokesman: "I could have ended up in Guantanamo Bay. Instead, I ended up at Yale." Yeah, how did this happen?
Meanwhile, we turn 5 of our most busy ports over to a country that supplied 2 of the terrorists that perpetrated the Twin Towers attack. George Orwell couldn't have come up with this plot! Truth really is stranger than fiction.
is it legal for them to decomplie the software? just wondering...
always mosh clockwise
Anyway, people should realize that if they spend time filling out a huge form, it MAY be sent to someone.
That's the new face of Republican "personal resonsibility" values: if the Republicans screw up, accuse the Democrats of doing it years and years ago...
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
The republicans already know how everybody in america thinks. Negropointe is in charge of NSA.
That's the point, though. Whether you want them to or not, they're finding out via this CD. (And not just them, apparently; also whoever can hack this public, unsecured web site.)
My opinions--that is, my beliefs; my thoughts--are the most private data I have. Some I'm happy to share with the world at large, but some I'm not. I'm a lot more concerned about letting government into my head than into my luggage.
I should buy some cement.
Have any recommendations in particular? Does the left have its own version of The Economist---that is, does it have a serious intellectual newspaper that aspires to articulate a consistent political platform? I would so love that.
Total Information Awareness lives on
I like how you get modded up..but anyway.
So the poster claims that republicans tend to be vocal about "hot button issues." he claims that there are a great deal of "closet bigot" republicans.
Examining the questions in the survey, they are all simple questions. They are for the most part value based questions, and many of them are answerable by degrees.
So you tell me--if you call someone who disagrees with you on value based questions a biggot, are you yourself a biggot?
In a related note, the Minnesota Republican Party has signed an agreement with Sony-BMG's to further develop rootkit technology.
Both parties insist that it is in the best interest of the public.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
Or one person with software to flood them with cooked data. Maybe they were smart enough to check for loads of connections from one IP address, but that's what lists of open proxies are for, right? ("According to our results, lots of people in Korea agree with us, mainly in the 65-85 demographic.")
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Yer both right.
And what does this prove?
A blog about stuff.
Yes, it is legal to decompile the software. What you do with the information or what modifications you make to the software afterwards change the legal implications and require a team of lawyers to interpret.
If you really think there is a "left" with priorities as you have laid them out, you need to step back and look at some evidence. You sound like you just listened to an episode of Rush Limbaugh while he put forth some strawman opinions from the "left". And now anyone who doesn't tow the current party line you simply stereotype as:
and so on...
Stereotypes are the oldest form a deception in the world of politics. You have been sucked into it like a ray of light get sucked into a black hole.
in minnesota
Ben Masel: 51,282 votes for US Senate in the Wisconsin Democratic Primary
I recently received a letter from the Republican National Committee, which in no uncertain terms implied that I have donated to them before, and were hoping that I will do so again. Now, I have never made a donation to any political party (partly because I am not a US citizen, and it could be illegal).
My first thought was that the RNC was lying, which is somewhat expected from Republicans. Then, however, I saw that in one of the latest political scandals involving lobyists, one of the issues was that donations had been made in others' names, which is illegal.
So do you know if your name is on a GOP donations list? The scheme in the article can easily be used for that purpose.
You evidentally have no idea how your government works. If you can't get the votes because of the rules, you break them until you do. The party in power is the one controlling the agenda. It is the one that decides what issues get heard, how long they are heard, or even if they are heard.
B.
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
Congratulations. That was the most juvenile justification of idiocy I've read all day.
What if you don't have a family? What if none of them can afford to help? The New Deal flopped? Tax codes are made convoluted and punitive by "leftists"? You really think there are "leftists" in positions of any power in the US?
You can follow this sentence: "If you studied political theory at all and then listen *objectively* to the topics and views presented you could come to no other conclusion."
With this one: "Being a hardcore right-winger myself..."
And still keep a straight face?
I think moderating parent post as flamebait just proves that he's right. It isn't flamebait, it's accurate.
Yeah, may I assume you are joking?
Because if what he said was true, he would get a warrant. No judge would or could deny a warrant to tap the phone of an Al Qaeda suspect.
The ENTIRE issue is: why didn't he get the warrant?
You might also note the FBI complaints that the program generated thousands of tips, and all of them worthless. They had to investigate thousands of Americans who had absolutely no connection to terrorism (not just AlQaeda).
And even worthless tips would be o.k. if they were legal; the question is, why no warrant to make them legal?
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
Is it really big news that Republicans are anti-democratic, anti-freedom, and anti-conservative? (Yes, if you voted for Bush, you are against conservatism in it's traditional sense that Bush Sr. stood for, and that the GOP stood for only several years ago, sorry, but that's how it is).
How is this "News for Nerds"?
Not plagerism. And learn to express yourself with words that weren't fed to you by littlegreenfootballs while you're at it.
And in general, your understanding of who is a primary source is incorrect. When it comes from Reuters, it's "Reuters reports", not "NYT reports", at least it isn't done that way in journals with any kind of respectability.
But I don't expect you to really pay attention to anything I say because it contradicts your beliefs, at least it would seem from your idiotic vocabulary of buzzwords.
If you want to bitch about blog-linking, you can leave out the loaded words when complaining about it. Then some people might be able to take you seriously.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Obviously this is a "recruiter" CD where the point is to convince you that you should be a Republican voter. Basicly information in an interactive package.
In addition, it is also either a poll or an interview. And as long as they make it clear which it is, I don't have a problem with it.
By "poll" I mean anonymous information about "What issues are the people considering voting Republican concerned about?" Obviously an interesting question without the individual specifics.
By "interview" I mean collecting personal information, which is perfectly fine if you agree to it. Perhaps some people even want to opt in to more political "information".
Let's for a moment say that this is instead a newspaper.
If I'm asked to participate in a poll, I'm perfectly happy to read "[Party] up 0.2% in latest poll"
If I'm asked to do an interview, I'm perfectly happy to see my interview in a "Why I vote..." interview series with name and picture (or I could refuse).
I'd be pretty damn pissed if someone asked me to take part in a poll and it got posted like an interview with name and picture.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Come on- admit it... all the US parties are right wing, just some more than others...
Hell, even some of our European Right Wing parties are left of your most left-leaning party!
The Democrats are no longer the party for Southern racists, although the Democratic party certainly was at one time.
John F. Kennedy wiretapped Martin Luther King Jr., I don't think he counts as either a Southerner or a racist.
Ironically, the 9th and 10th Amendments were looked upon as mere toilet paper by the Supreme Court from the time of Roosevelt right up until United States v. Lopez in 1995. With the notable exception of Roe v. Wade, several generations of mostly Democratic Supreme Court appointees took the view that the Commerce Clause meant that the States could be treated as so many French departments, charged with little more than implementing the dictates of the central government.
If the 9th and 10th Amendments ever prove to be indispensable to establishing a general right to privacy (apart from a "penumbra" sheltering abortion on demand), you can thank Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist for restoring them.
-ccm
Too much Law; not enough Order.
You need to get that checked. Kneejerk responses because of perceived political slant is dangerous to your credibility.
Now, the point of the article isn't that it was a certain political party (in this case the GOP), but that it was an unannounced case of data collection, possibly even masquerading/playing down the data collection. If it were a liberal group doing the same, the concern would be as great, the outcry most likely even greater. I suspect you would be one of the loudest critics if it were (for example) California Democrats doing it.
This is unethical, no matter who does it. However, that the Republican party is doing it makes it even more serious, due to their recent history of abusing such data.
Nice list, but it is only fair to provide every idiotic cliche about conservatives as well.
<sarcasm>
I think the right's priorities go like this:
1. I love Bush.
2. Yes I am perfectly willing to criticize Bush for making mistakes, but since he never has made and never will make any mistakes I won't ever have to criticize him will I.
3. I like to steal elections.
4. I put the well being of corporations before that of the electorate.
5. I hate non religious people, especially those 'Scientisty' people who say my gandfather was an ape.
6. I love only the rich.
7. I would strip-mine for uranium in yellowstone park if the profit margain was high enough.
8. I lookout for terrorists who kill innocent civillians in my on country but gladly sponsor them in countries I don't like.
9. The SUV Is the most fuel efficient vehicle ever designed by the mind of man.
10. I love the military, especially when I get to send it to the Middle East on the strenght of completely bogus intelligence.
11. I love the tobacco lobby, fast food lobby, the telecom lobby, oil lobbyists, the meat industry lobby, the textile industry lobby, the automotive industry lobby, the agro-business lobby, generous corporate managers with big wallets, the NRA, Weapons manufacturers etc., etc., etc. They probide so many 'campaign contributions' <wink, wink>
.
.
999. You don't want to eat GM food! I hate you!!!!
1000. Privacy? Only right thinking christian and conservative people have (limited) right to that luxury.
1001. I believe the earth is flat and the stars are nailed to the floorboards of heaven and if you ever mention the words evolution or abortion I will bomb you.
</sarcasm>
Apply for a warrant? Are you insane? He might get one of those nasty Judges that disagree with Bush's personal opinions and make decisions based on the law instead. Tom DeLay would go batshit again, and then where would we be?
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
I would have thought that we have seen ample evidence already that the Republican Party doesn't really have much truck with ethics. Why would anyone in their right mind accept a CD from them anyway?
My mother always told me not to talk to dodgy strangers, especially if they offer shiny things..
If you don't vote, we'll assume how you would've voted and vote for you! Hey, just trying to make your life more comfortable and convenient!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The Reps of my youth were people who didn't "care". They were the proverbial liberal. Go ahead and do. Freedom for all, to rise to the olymp of the Gods or fall into the gutter. We don't care. Go and do! It's your life, not ours.
The Reps I see now have little in common with them. While they expose similar liberal views on the economic side, they start be very obsessed with control on the personal side.
Now, full blown liberalism on the economic side and tight control of the personal freedom is the key mark of fascism. Look at Germany in the 1930s and you will see a LOT of parallels.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The right's priorities:
...
1. Hate liberals.
2. 'Win' elections.
3. Hate gays.
4. Hate blacks/asians/
5. Hate women.
6. Hate the poor.
7. Hate facts. (when they get in the way)
8. Hate science.
9. Hate freedom.
10. Hate individuality and dissent in general.
11. Hate sex.
12. Love to send the military to needless deaths.
13. Hate peace.
14. Hate the environment.
999. Hate love.
1000. Love hate.
1001. Love sweeping overgeneralisations.
So, basically, the goverment:
1- Is asking you questions about important issues
2- Is listening to your answers
3- Is doing it in a way convenient for you - CD and the internet
and consequently,
4- You are afraid they might use these answers for political purposes.
What's wrong with you people? Would you prefer a statement like "we garantee that your opinion will never be recorded or used for any decision we will make" ?
As I learn more and more, I realize I don't know much.
I don't agree with it, all they needed to do is state what the point of the questioneer is. That way, you knew what you were doing when you filled it out. If you wanted that information submitted, fine, no problem, but if you didn't, you just didn't fill it out.
I also don't think it will be a problem how they were saying the information could be used, "to tell you boss." I don't think so, the is stretching the imagination a little too far.
My friend was helping with the presidental campign this past year. He was given a laptop by the office and it was loaded with or had access to a database that he was able to look up anyone and see their past voting history and other information like that. Now, we didn't go into details of how they got this information and all who had access to obtain it, but they did buy it from some where. While I was around, he was able to look up everyone that was around at the time and tell us who and what we voted for and it went back a long time.
So this isn't really that bad on the greater scheme of things compared to what is out there. It doesn't help though.
When I saw the story on the news they made it look like it was all about gay marrage ban(Any one who wants to go though the hell of marrage is welcome to it). But now it sounds like a fishing email. (you get it go to the site and fill out junk info)
Interesting point. I don't think you're insanely leftist, at least by that post. But the OP's attitude actually might be illustrative of why the current public political divide SEEMS so huge, when in fact it's not.
See, it's not that I care that anyone knows my opinion, but the wearing of one's opinion on ones' sleeve is an invitation to friction. It is - it's waving a big red flag about my beliefs, and challenging anyone who thinks I'm wrong to confront me on it. IMO a society can't work like that on a constant basis.
We ALL have differing ideas about things. We express our opinions about our beliefs about how government should run by our casting votes for candidates that we feel (at least somewhat) mirror our views. But we can't all have everything the way we want.
Worth repeating: we can't all have everything the way we want.
So 'society' as a concept is a bunch of people COMPROMISING on their wants to come to a collective existence that's pretty good for all. Part of that collective existence is "not waving my beliefs in others' faces, PARTICULARLY if they are contentious".
I know that probably sounds very tepid and milquetoastish, but the comfort and happiness of the people around me in my life IS important to me (to some degree, anyway), EVEN IF WE DISAGREE ON IMPORTANT ISSUES.
I see our current polity as being all about "me" for everyone: "my wants", "my needs", "my beliefs". Frankly, I see it more from Liberals than I do from Conservatives (ok folks, we can take the Kerry, Gore, and Wellstone stickers off the cars now), although I see it more and more from the part of the Republican party I don't particularly like, the 'demonstrative conservatives' - ick to all of you, on both sides.
Part of society is about getting along with others. I see far more effort being spent on people's own gratification, and very little effort or thought going into consideration of the people around oneself.
As a life philosophy, I like this statement (and see how MUCH of it (boldface) is devoted to OTHERS):
"The TRUE GENTLEMAN is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe."
- John Walter Wayland
Be proud of what you believe in. Work to make your ideas happen, and don't shrink from defending them. But think about how your actions impact others, and simply try to be nice.
Is that so wrong?
-Styopa
Looks like the Repubs have taken Scott McNealy's past statements about privacy to heart. You have no privacy. Unless, of course, you are from a Big Oil or Big Pharma corporation involved in policy planning with Dick "Don't Mess With Me Or I'll Shoot You In The Face" Cheney. My guess is that, if informed about this, some GOP spokesdroid will say "Phone home? Never heard of such a thing. Besides, if you have nothing to hide..."
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
One thing that a lot of people don't realize is that political campaigns (Both Republican and Democrat) do this all the time. From working on several campaigns I can say with confidence that every campaign, from congress to state assemblies, builds a database of voters, their interests, their voting history, and their stands on issues. When volunteers canvass neighborhoods and come up to your door to promote candidates, they know exactly who you are, how you voted in primaries (main elections are secret), and any other info that the party may have collected on you.
When I canvassed, when I called people or went door to door, they told me to note anything interesting about the house or the person's interests, such as whether they had kids, a dog, american flags, etc... It's part of politics. They build a huge database with this information so they don't bother people they know don't support them or don't care about politics.
"Interactive" in the sense that the GOP-slanted questions will troll for your kneejerk responses to hot button issues like abortion and gay marriage, and then after seeing which wedge issues light your fire they'll come back grubbing for money based on those. Also similar to AOL in that I'm pretty sure once you're on their list, it's heck to get your "service" cancelled.
Certainly not "interactive" in the sense that you could cause them to change their mind or position about anything.
(I live in Minnesota. Our Republican party used to call itself the "Independent" Republicans. Somewhere in the mid-1990s or so, they strayed from the old genuine conservatism, which we had a fine tradition of here, to become one more state party headed largely by the fundie organizers who wring scads of money from outstate rural districts. At that point the "IR" decided the "Independent" part didn't convey their alignment with the national party well enough, and they removed the extra word. It was just so awkward to have around, "Independent." Haven't gotten any votes from me since, and I try to spread my choices across all available parties if I can.)
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
the ineptitude of the Republican party these days really amazes me - :)
and i'm one of them, at least nominally. In addition to this latest
folly, the national hq has been using a spam list the past 6 months
to send out propoganda. I've called them twice, explained that a)
they will only piss people off by spamming and b) given that some of
the addresses they spammed me with are over 10yrs old and inactive
they are being ripped off to boot. Even blogged about it. Do they
get the message? Not yet... though I think they will next November. Er
wait..maybe not.. they only have to run against Dems right?
>Apply for a warrant? Are you insane? He might get one of those nasty Judges that disagree with Bush's personal opinions and make decisions based on the law instead
I humbly apologize.
I LOVE BIG BROTHER !!!
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
One interesting side issue in all this concerns how marketing organizations can exploit CDs like these to end-run the do-not-call rule in telemarketing. In later comments by the original Minnesota Public Radio author http://www.publicradio.org/columns/minnesota/polin aut/ he cites an executive at the firm that developed this CD who talks about how marketers can use this approach to establish a "prior relationship" with people that can then be used to justify calling them for marketing purposes. I'd be curious if marketing versions of this CD make any of this explicit. Apparently the only terms of use on the MN Republican CD enforce the rights of the software developers.
Note that this doesn't apply to the Minnesota Republican Party's use of this technology since political solicitations are explicitly excluded from the do-not-call law (wonder why?).
Where can I get one? It would be so much fun to seed with "interesting" responses! It's not like I'd have to put in a real name or anything so silly. For a column on how to mess with the minds of our neo-fascist GOP, see http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/a rchive/2006/01/25/notes012506.DTL
The GOP is the party that promised "Less big government" and "Less government interference in people's lives". What did we get? The biggest government in history, huge deficits, domestic spying, illegal wiretaps, "the defense of marriage" act, and so on, and so on, and so on.
They lied to us in 2000, they lied to us in 2004. Why do people still fall for their lies?
I don't know what I would do if Jesus wasn't on their side. I might find things like this to be morally wrong or un-justified.
If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
They just put winning elections ahead of national security.
Total bullshit--I haven't seen the left win a notable election in at least 8 years. How can you possibly say that the left cares more about winning elections than their values with Howard Dean as the Democratic party chair?? Not exactly famous for winning national elections, but he's totally committed to the core values.
It is the Republican party who has sacrificed their core values on the altar of electoral success.
Small government? Forget it--seniors here is your $600 billion+ pill benefit, contractors here are your $60 billion in non-compete bid contracts. Thanks for the donations and votes.
National security? Forget it--we're going to transform the military by shrinking it drastically (look up Rumsfeld's first 6 months in office), we don't need troops when we've got technology. Whoops! Terrorist attack! Ok, now we'll pay attention to national security. No no, of course we don't need a Homeland Security Dept. Oh, it will mean votes? Ok, we can have one. (look up Bush's huge flip-flop on this one)
Personal responsibility? Forget it, not needed. The government will decide what you can do in your home, what you can write, say, watch on TV, or think, what you can do with music or movies you buy, what books you can check out of the library, etc. Thanks for the soft money, corporations and churches.
Fiscal responsbility? Who needs it, right! Here's your payoff, err, tax cuts. Thanks for the votes, don't worry about paying it back, the next generation will take care of that. The young ones don't vote for us anyway, might as well stick'em with the bill.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Hoax.
The nature of those questions are horribly shallow. I find it hard to believe that such questions offer anything meaningful except methods of manipulation.
This is so true.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
sorry I forgot to use html on that