That’s very interesting. How do you know the data wasn’t from a signup of any sort? I wonder about that constantly — it seems like the #1 vector. And although I’ve been careful not to fill in phone number fields, I’d be lying if I said there were zero cases of me plugging in my number into “the wrong form”. It feels impossible to tell now which forms will bite you.
And they’re always so insidious. Want to try out some new app that’s going viral? “Phone number verification please.” Oh good, now I have the choice of not joining my friends, or risking some spammer from India three years from now will be texting me at 3am to sell me silagra, because Hip New App had a data sharing agreement with Company X, who passed around my phone number like a pipe at a frat party.
The worst part is that it’s somehow possible to detect whether you’re giving them a “real phone number” and not a twilio number. And it turns out that all those services that offer burner lines are all built on twilio. Which means (to my dismay) I couldn’t just set up a damn burner number unless I literally bought a second phone.
At this point the situation is so comical that carrying around a burner phone next to my laptop is suddenly seeming like a rational totally-normal thing to do.
At this point the situation is so comical that carrying around a burner phone next to my laptop is suddenly seeming like a rational totally-normal thing to do.
Heh…as soon as I read this I glanced down at the little Nokia dumb phone I have next to my keyboard. $15/mo AT&T 4G prepaid plan exclusively for “when I’m suspicious of whoever I’m about to give a phone number to”.
Only ever gets “topped up” when I need to use it, and when it’s not in use it just sits in a drawer.
Parties maintain these datasets and then selectively share with candidates. There's always misuse and abuse.
My local (legislative district) party requires candidates sign a contract. We're one of the few (because we have geeks on the executive board). And even then, there's always some yahoo abusing the data.
I'm not aware of the relationship(s) state & national parties have with their large fund raisers. I assume the abuse is rampant. Just like with every other outsourced fund raising operation.
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I've long been totally against voter profiling and ballot chasing. Harassing voters is another form of disenfranchisement (thru alienation). I've door belled, worked the phones, and done fund raising; voters HATE us.
But every else is utterly opposed to the alternative system. Universal voter registration, compulsory voting, and massively curtail campaigning.
In other words, be like every other mature democracy. But we couldn't possibly have that. Because Murica! or something.
TLDR: Burn it all down. Upgrade to genuine democracy.
And they’re always so insidious. Want to try out some new app that’s going viral? “Phone number verification please.” Oh good, now I have the choice of not joining my friends, or risking some spammer from India three years from now will be texting me at 3am to sell me silagra, because Hip New App had a data sharing agreement with Company X, who passed around my phone number like a pipe at a frat party.
The worst part is that it’s somehow possible to detect whether you’re giving them a “real phone number” and not a twilio number. And it turns out that all those services that offer burner lines are all built on twilio. Which means (to my dismay) I couldn’t just set up a damn burner number unless I literally bought a second phone.
At this point the situation is so comical that carrying around a burner phone next to my laptop is suddenly seeming like a rational totally-normal thing to do.