Forget the clipboard. Forget the field office. All the modern campaign volunteer needs is a smartphone and a smile.
President Obama’s reelection team has taken canvassing to the next technological level, introducing a free iPhone app that maps the location of nearby Democrats, identifying them by first name, last initial and home address.
It also offers a script for volunteers to follow with potential voters and tells how to elicit information about whether they are likely to vote for Obama and whether they would be willing to volunteer for the effort.
The free app, introduced last week, has drawn the ire of some privacy advocates, who note that anyone — not just legitimate campaign volunteers — can download it. The information is publicly available elsewhere, privacy advocate Shaun Dakin said, but the easy access of the app is still a little creepy.
“It doesn’t make it right just because it’s legal,” Dakin said. “Anybody can get this. There’s no way to prevent anyone from downloading this.”
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-campaign-app-concerns-some-privacy-advocates/2012/08/07/548ed7f2-e0b6-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_story.html
President Obama’s reelection team has taken canvassing to the next technological level, introducing a free iPhone app that maps the location of nearby Democrats, identifying them by first name, last initial and home address.
It also offers a script for volunteers to follow with potential voters and tells how to elicit information about whether they are likely to vote for Obama and whether they would be willing to volunteer for the effort.
The free app, introduced last week, has drawn the ire of some privacy advocates, who note that anyone — not just legitimate campaign volunteers — can download it. The information is publicly available elsewhere, privacy advocate Shaun Dakin said, but the easy access of the app is still a little creepy.
“It doesn’t make it right just because it’s legal,” Dakin said. “Anybody can get this. There’s no way to prevent anyone from downloading this.”
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-campaign-app-concerns-some-privacy-advocates/2012/08/07/548ed7f2-e0b6-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_story.html
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