In what could be the largest intentional wholesale breach of online privacy in history, NBC News is reporting that the Obama administration has turned over its campaign data base to a newly formed advocacy organization being set up to help ramrod administration policy through Congress. Although it is likely that individuals in the database might be supportive of the presidential efforts, the transfer is similar to a company selling widgets turning over their database to a similar company where there was perceived value.
Did the Obama campaign comply with privacy rules when the transfer was made? Preliminary reports suggest that rules were ignored in the transfer.
Full story at: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/28/16726913-obama-campaign-gives-database-of-millions-of-supporters-to-new-advocacy-group?lite
Just when you think you’ve heard it all, it just goes to show you haven’t! I find myself amazed and appalled by this story. It shows how the political machine feels it is above and beyond laws and just plain common courtesy. The unmitigated gall of this administration! If this were a hospital or healthcare facility the fines would be enormous, public outcry deafening,the press unrelenting and jobs would be lost.
I received a phone call from a reader who considers the article misleading and disingenuous because the reader is on the list and agrees with the objectives of the organization…which is as I expressly acknowledged in the above article.
The point here is that lists collected for one entity cannot be turned over to others to be used without violating internet privacy restrictions. All the administration had to do was follow the rules and they would have gotten most of the same outcome.
This is no different than a widget-interest website creating a user list and then selling the website and list to a widget manufacturer. The list members probably are interested in widgets, but privacy laws and the courts say is illegal. They cannot turn over the list unless it was disclosed in the original privacy policy when folks signed up.
If a business or an opponent violates the rules, they are held accountable. The administration routinely fails to follow the rules…all I demand of anyone is to follow the rules.