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.

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

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You're hanging on to the 1980's and 1990's straw man, NOT the current one, and you're coming off an uninformed and out of date.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

[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: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.

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?

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.