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Minnesota GOP's CD Raises Privacy Concerns

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tue Feb 28, 2006 08:39 PM
from the everyone-has-an-angle dept.
Privacy Government Politics
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.
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  • Let me get this straight (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:41PM (#14823214)
    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.
    • 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.

        • Re:ummm...no (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Romancer (19668) <romancer.deathsdoor@com> on Tuesday February 28 2006, @10:37PM (#14823807) Journal
          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.
          • 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
              • 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.

        • 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?
        • 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, an

  • Hoax? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by conner_bw (120497) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:42PM (#14823220) Homepage Journal
    Does anyone have a copy of this CD?

    Clicking through to a bunch of "screen shots" and quotes such as "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." doesn't sound very credible to me.

    Someone prove me wrong?

    • 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!

  • Your tax forms (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Kohath (38547) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:46PM (#14823254)
    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.)
    • I support a repeal of the income tax for any reason, what-so-ever.

      --
      Rossz
    • (No. Without income taxes, you wouldn't get to spend money you didn't earn.)

      As if I get to spend any of that money I didn't earn anyway, it's all been disappearing into the middle east.

      Love your illogic though. Clearly only socialists complain about privacy, the conservatives are too busy studying for their CD quizzes so they can keep their overlords happy.
      • Haha. Do not worry about how they spend the money that they take from you, worry about how they spend the money that they take from you that you don't even have yet. They're spending x10 what they collect in revenue, and whose pocket do you think that comes out of when it's time to pay the bar tab?
      • Clearly only socialists complain about privacy

        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.

        Seriously though, Chuck Schumer's staff illegally obtained a credit report on Michael Steele [time.com]. Where were Slashdot's pretend privacy advocates then? No crocodile tears for Mr. Steele?

        • Re:Your tax forms (Score:4, Insightful)

          by doublem (118724) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @10:14PM (#14823693) Homepage Journal
          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 (Score:5, Funny)

            by Kohath (38547) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:49PM (#14824101)
            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.
    • The IRS is limited in what it can reveal about your tax information. See here [irs.gov] for more information. The republican party is under no such restrictions.
    • 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
      • 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
        • 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
  • 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.
    • Umm... didn't you hear? The government only spys on guilty Americans.
    • 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.

      Shocked? Didn't the Regan/Bush(s) terms prepare you for this? The Republicans are on their 5th presidential term in 25 years and not a single Republican term has shown fiscal r

  • Originally reported by Bob Collins (Score:5, Informative)

    by AxsDeny (152142) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @08:48PM (#14823263) Homepage Journal

    From part of his story at Minnesota Public Radio [publicradio.org].

    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.

  • 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.

  • that's not a real problem (Score:3, Funny)

    by penguin-collective (932038) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @09:02PM (#14823336)
    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.
  • 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.
    • I'm guessing they would spin the results to show what they wanted and not publish the rest if that happened. Politicians are usually good at the whole spin thing.

  • Are my opinons so dangerous? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by justin_w_hall (188568) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @09:45PM (#14823563) Homepage
    (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...
    • Isn't this technically spyware? Illegal spyware, nonetheless?

      Are you kidding? It's not illegal when politicians do it. And by it, I mean anything.

    • Re:Spyware? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by JourneyExpertApe (906162) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @09:12PM (#14823394)
      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.
    • 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.
    • Unfortunately, we still have the old Fascists, the democrats who want to tag and follow everyone...
      • 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 yo
    • 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.

    • Why is this troll modded "Insightful" (Score:4, Insightful)

      by doublem (118724) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @10:25PM (#14823749) Homepage Journal
      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?
    • in minnesota
    • 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 e
    • 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 th

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