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.

Comments

Let me get this straight

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Let me get this straight

[Golias]

Minnesota progressives have nobody to blame but themselves.

After all, they were the ones who desperately wanted Minneapolis to be seen as a "world class city" and have pushed for theaters, museums, rail lines, sports stadiums, high-density housing, new shopping developments, a mega-mall just outside the airport, HUGE bail-outs of a major airline with a hub in the area, and anything else that would help the metro area grow, grow, grow by attracting people from other parts of the country.

Well, people came, and (surprise surprise), they don't all look, act, and think like Garrison Keillor. Some of them even dare to think Swedish-style socialism is a bad idea. Suddenly Roger Moe, who once aspired to be governor, has about as much power and influence as a typical school board member.

Proving once again that the Law of Unintended Consequences is, and always has been, utterly lost on Minnesota progressives.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Your tax forms

[Kohath]

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.)

Re:Your tax forms

[NoData]

Hmmm...Let's take a look.

Form 1040
---snip----

34 Student loan interest deduction (see page 33)

35 Tuition and fees deduction (see page 34)

36 Add lines 34 and 35 here

37a Oh, BTW, do think gays should marry?
    b Seriously?

38 Domestic production acitivities deduction. Attach Form 8903-35

39 Subtract the number of unborn children murdered this year from line 34

40 Total value of stock or other securities sold this year

41a Interest earned from personal savings
    b Interest taken in your personal salvation

42 On a scale of 1-10 rate how awesome your president is here

43 Multiply line 42 by the total of lines 28, 36, 38, 39. This is your refund.

-----

Man! You are RIGHT. I need to read that shit more closely.

Re:Your tax forms

[cubicledrone]

and then move to a Value Added Tax system.

poor people that it'd be good for them.

Well, let's see how good the current tax system is for poor people:

1. Rent = zero deductions
2. Savings = all interest taxed
3. Medical expenses = not deductible unless high minimum reached
4. Car repairs = not deductible
5. Wages = taxed before they are received
6. Consumer interest = not deductible, even though it is ten times higher than when it WAS deductible
7. Gas and Utilities = taxed two and three times

Basically, poor people are taxed and taxed and TAXED with the current system. Now, why would a VAT be better? One simple reason: Savings would no longer be taxed. Ever. When something isn't taxed, people use it. Why do people buy houses? To get the mortgage deduction. Why do people start IRAs? To get the deduction.

With a VAT, only money that is spent is taxed. Savings levels would skyrocket, it would put more money back into the hands of taxpayers, and that would dramatically decrease the current debt problems most people have. Anything that encourages savings is always a good thing. Always.

Re:Your tax forms

[doublem]

They don't care about privacy. They care about the complaining. And they want to think of themselves as victims. For that "I'm a victim, empower me and give me goodies" benefit. Privacy is a pretense.

You nit wit. You aren't even arguing against a current stereotype. Didn't you get the memo? The "Liberals are victims" straw man went out of style in late 2001. The current trend is to justify ignoring Liberals by calling them "Anti-American" or "Traitors."

You're hanging on to the 1980's and 1990's straw man, NOT the current one, and you're coming off an uninformed and out of date.

Terrorism is the new Communism, and you're suppose dot be attacking Liberals from that angle.

Remember, now that it's Republicans in power, Big Government (The Fed is larger now then it has been at any point in history) is a GOOD thing, because it's monitoring you to "Protect your freedom."

Get with the program and get in line. Harping on the stock straw man form the last CENTURY makes the GOP look out of step and disorganized.

Re:Your tax forms

[AuMatar]

One major problem here- poor people don't make enough money to save. They're lucky to break even over the year. A VAT tax would be, at BEST, no change. In the meantime, it would lower taxes for the rich who save the vast majority of their money. This would mean it lowers taxes as a percent of income on the rich, and raises it on the poor.

Furthermore, the idea that a VAT tax would effect savings rate is ludicrous even at face value. Why is the fact that savings are taxed effect savings rate? Its taxed if its saved or spent. Even under a VAT tax, when you do eventually spend its taxed. Now or later, it doesn't make a difference.

Re:Your tax forms

[ClamIAm]

Do you support a repeal of the income tax for privacy reasons?

Sounds good to me.

Re:Your tax forms

[Kohath]

The current trend is to justify ignoring Liberals by calling them "Anti-American" or "Traitors."

Nope. That's just the pretend stuff for the wackos. Everyone knows the left isn't traitorous in general. They just put winning elections ahead of national security. It's ok, national security is still in your top 10 priorities. Maybe 8th.

The current trend is to say you're not FOR anything and you have no ideas. And it'll work too, unless there's a bunch of good counter-examples. (Try saying you want to raise taxes again. It's the truth, and it worked so good the last time.)

I think the left's priorities go like this:

1. I hate Bush
2. Money
3. Win elections
4. I hate corporations
5. I hate religious people
6. I hate the rich
7. Make the earth feel our love
8. Lookout for terrorists
9. I hate SUV drivers
10. I hate the military
11. I hate smokers, fast food restuarants, cell phone talkers, wal-mart, oil companies, meat eaters, fur wearers, snowmobilers, farmers, managers, electricity generation, homeschoolers, zoos, etc., etc., etc.
.
.
999. Are you going to eat that? (Yes? I hate you.)
1000. Privacy.
1001. I hate light pollution from the reflections off of orbiting satellites.

and so on.

Spying on innocent Americans?

[plimsoll]

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.

Originally reported by Bob Collins

[AxsDeny]

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.

Re:Originally reported by Bob Collins

[SanityInAnarchy]

Yes- very similar process to if you got a free AOL cd at the grocery store.

This can't be good...

And if it's real... Slashdot effect?

[woodsrunner]

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!

Re:Hey! They're fascists...

[robertjw]

Unfortunately, we still have the old Fascists, the democrats who want to tag and follow everyone...

that's not a real problem

[penguin-collective]

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.

Re:Hey! They're fascists...

[Mekkis]

Fascism transcends party line. The definition of fascism, as offered by its creator Benito Mussolini: "The collusion of business and government for the mutual benefit of both."

Ergo, President Bush is a consummate fascist because he places the interests of business foremost in his agenda. Furthermore, the Republican Party - the 'party of business' - is interested in minimizing government restriction on business at the expense of the common citizen. Can't get much more fascist than that.

And before you accuse me of being specifically anti-Republican, the Democrats do the same, they just sugar-coat it. They soft-sell fascism. The key difference between them is that the Republicans these days have made a point of ensuring anyone who might have a moderating influence is safely out of power, while a few key Democrats who believe in the rights of the common person have somehow managed to keep afloat within their party...

This year with Diebold-brand electronic voting, we can expect even these few reasonable guys to be run out of office thanks to the happily untracable rigging of elections.

Re:Spyware?

[JourneyExpertApe]

No. Spyware, by definition is something that collects information about you and sends it without you knowing it. Filling out a form in a program that you deliberately ran and having that same program send that information somewhere is not spying. What would be the purpose of filling out such a survey (into which you entered your name), if not to be sent somewhere so you can receive political junk mail (or "analog spam", as I like to call it)?

Now, in my highschool government class (which was required for graduation), we had to take a "test" at the end that asked for our opinion on some key issues like welfare, taxes, and I forget what else. As I recall, this was to be sent elsewhere to be "evaluated". I always suspected that this information ended up on file with the state government so they could characterize everyone's political views. The difference is that the GOP software is optional.

Just no. Why do people say ummm no?

[el americano]

If you are a right-thinking American, what do you have to fear ;-)

Are my opinons so dangerous?

[justin_w_hall]

(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...

Why is this troll modded "Insightful"

[doublem]

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?

The Willie Sutton Principle in politics

[gilroy]

Blockquoth the poster:

And all of them attacking either the GOP or the Bush Administration.

"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.

Re:ummm...no

[Romancer]

Here's the difference.

If I install a program on my computer it can ask for my name company name etc. It can then ask if I want to register this program and send this information outside the computer.

The difference would be that if the program asked for my information without stating that it would automatically be sent out it would be considered misrepresentation.

It is an understood assumption by consumers (one which I personally believe is valid as well as the standard) that software must inform you explicitly that any data will be sent outside the software/computer it is on.

One would not assume that the forms in software such as ACT, MS Word, MS Excel, or other programs that ask for your information would be sent out without at least telling you so before the process.

Even the software companies that are on the edge of customer acceptance in this area have a policy that you can read and find exactly what information is being sent back to the company. Quickbooks is a prime example. They monitor your usage and use pop-ups and in-program ads to try and sell you other products that they think you might use. This is specific data collected with the association to your registration. Which by the way is mandatory. But disclosed.

Re:How did this get modded at a plus four?

[Scott Trigg]

If slashdot is going to start linking to blogs commenting on other blogs (that MPR story read almost like a blog itself) they need to just turn slashdot into a blog and start a blogroll down the side and stuff. I know, they could complete the decline and startup their "Geeks in Space" net radio show again, except now of course it would be a podcast, because that is buzzword compatible.

FYI, Slashdot _is_ a blog. The head blogger's name is CmdrTaco...

Re:ummm...no

[jadavis]

If you're filling out your info in order to use software, you might expect it to not be sent out. That's almost like personalizing the software, and possibly registering it at the end. Notice that MS Word does not ask you any political questions, because that would have nothing to do with using the software (at least, not yet).

However, if you're just filling out a form to fill out a form, it's pretty unreasonable to expect that the information stay on your computer.

Before entering personal data anywhere you should have some kind of awareness how it will be used. Entering the data alone is a certain amount of implied consent. If the software harvests the data, even from itself, I'd see your point. But the people are actually entering their data and opinions.

Now, public on a website is a different matter. That should probably be disclosed out of ethics, but I guess if you don't ask any questions ahead of time, it could be sent to many other companies anyway.

No Registration by Party

[bmasel]

in minnesota

Re:ummm...no

[Jason1729]

I just enjoy seeing one-sided statements made as though that's the only group who would commit such an act.

I don't understand the question....they are the only group who has commited such an act.

As far as your devil's advocate question that's like saying "would you call PETA inhumane if they sent a group to alaska to bash seals skulls in with clubs?". PETA wouldn't do it, so what does the question mean?

Kneejerk, kneejerk...

[Saint Fnordius]

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.

Re:ummm...no

[greenrd]

In the UK this would be flat-out illegal, because we have sane data privacy laws. Everybody who stores data about you (except certain exempt users such as the police) are required by law to tell you what will be stored and for what purpose, and they're required to only use it for that purpose and destroy it after it's no longer needed for that purpose. Political parties are certainly not exempt from this.