Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Presidential Campaigns Leak Supporters' Info To Tracking Firms

Posted by timothy on from the incompetence-or-incontinence dept.

Peter Eckersley writes "Stanford privacy researcher Jonathan Mayer has published new research showing that websites of both the Obama and Romney presidential campaigns, which are used to communicate with and coordinate their volunteers, leak large amounts of private information to third-party online tracking firms. The Obama campaign site leaked names, usernames, zip codes and street addresses to up to ten companies. The Romney campaign site leaked names, zip codes and partial email addresses to up to thirteen firms."

4 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Leak? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's not so much a "leak", and more of a "take this". They probably even get paid for it.

    --
    "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  2. There oughtta be a law... by msauve · · Score: 4, Insightful

    but, considering that congresscritters exempted themselves from the Do Not Call phone list, it will never happen. We don't have a representative government, but one made of people who think they're better than those they supposedly represent.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:There oughtta be a law... by Hillgiant · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Maybe I am the odd one. I WANT someone better than me in office.

      --
      -
    2. Re:There oughtta be a law... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I want someone in office who's so incompetent they can't get anything done. Less government is better government.

      That's quite a simplistic view on how societies work. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is, there are regions in the world with hardly any goverment at all, move there to see how you like it. Waziristan in Pakistan comes to mind, or some regions in Africa, in Somalia or some parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for instance.