An alarming article from the Associated Press explains how Ted Cruz has moved his campaign from direct cyber contact to data-mining and spyware within the contacts on phones and social media of Ted Cruz supporters.Posted on 02/11/2016 5:17:49 PM PST by smoothsailing
February 11, 2016
by sundance
An alarming article from the Associated Press explains how Ted Cruz has moved his campaign from direct cyber contact to data-mining and spyware within the contacts on phones and social media of Ted Cruz supporters.
According to the Associated Press outline the Cruz campaign has launched an app which targets the “friends” list of Facebook supporters of Ted Cruz, and extracts their information for use:
[…] The Cruz app prompts supporters to register using their Facebook logins, giving the campaign access to personal information such as name, age range, gender, location and photograph, plus lists of friends and relatives. Those without a Facebook account must either provide an email address or phone number to use the app. (link)
But the Cruz campaign doesn’t limit themselves to just social media. According to the media report the campaign is also retrieving, extracting and targeting those names and phone numbers within the supporters cell phone:
[…] The Cruz app separately urges users to let it download their phone contacts, giving the campaign a trove of phone numbers and personal email addresses. The campaign says that by using its app, “You hereby give your express consent to access your contact list.”
[…] Cruz’s app also transmits to the campaign each user’s physical location whenever the app is active, unless a user declines to allow it. The campaign said it does this “so that we can connect you to other Cruz Crew users based on your particular geographic location.”
In essence if you have a family member, friend or colleague, who is supporting Ted Cruz, the campaign now has access to your personal information for campaign targeting.
This is a remarkable level of intrusion of personal and private information coming from a presidential candidate who purports to be an advocate constitutional privacy and limits on the data-mining of intrusive government. A particular hypocrisy not lost on the Associated Press:
[…] Protecting the privacy of law-abiding citizens from the government is a pillar of Ted Cruz’s Republican presidential candidacy, but his campaign is testing the limits of siphoning personal data from supporters.
His “Cruz Crew” mobile app is designed to gather detailed information from its users’ phones — tracking their physical movements and mining the names and contact information for friends who might want nothing to do with his campaign. (read more)
So now when you begin receiving unsolicited demands for campaign contributions, at least you’ll know where they are coming from.
It would appear the only way to safely insure you are not part of the Stazi-esque spy campaign would be to ask your friends if they support Ted Cruz and immediately delete them from your contact lists. Well, if it’s not too late that is….
And to think, you thought only President Obama was a risk to your privacy !
Wow! Trying to persuade people to vote for him? What nerve!
Don’t worry, Ted “Big Data” Cruz’s faithful are all for any and all tactics that get more votes. Lying to voters about people dropping out, data mining to send intimidating letters, shady apps stealing all your contact info. Hey, “everybody’s doing it”, so why should the “principled Christian conservative” be any different, right?
Is it cold in Chicago?
This is how ti run an effective campaign he won’t have the media shilling for him and giving him all sorts of free airtime.
If you play, you play to win.
I wish he would quit begging me for money, three emails a day from him or his wife or someone on his staff.
I’m sick of it.
I'm sure your a long time lurker.
No clue, but it’s finally creeping back up to the 70’s in Tampa, thankfully!
It would sure suck to have a tech-savvy campaign in the general. Better to just leave all that social media analytics to the Democrats.
I suspect you are exaggerating quite a bit. I actually signed up on Cruz's website, and the most I get is requests once or twice a month.
And they're easy enough to avoid. Certainly not so bothersome that I need to run to FR to complain about it.
I think it’s the groups like the Tea Party people and their staff, as well as other groups out there who get your name form other organizations........I get several a day but the ones from Heidi and Cruz’s staff are clearly stated as so.....generally updating events of the day....or special announcements etc. I don’t have a problem with them....and like to be kept informed....and they will always leave room to donate if you want...ignore it otherwise...and even they mention that.
I CAN WRITE IN BIG BOLD LETTERS TOO!!! AREN’T I SCARY!!!!!!
He is doing it the hard way, isn’t he.
He should just get his daddy to charm some snakes and roll on the floor.
That would bring out the Cruzaholics in droves, marching in lockstep to the polls and precincts.
But he’s not doing that, so Praise Ted!!!
Of the 61,000 now running this app, I'm sure none of them have a problem with it as they are likely true believers anyway.
Nope.
I never signed up for anything and I’ve gotten 3 in the past week
This is nothing next to what Cruz will do with the NSA
It should be clear that you can receive Cruz messages without giving any permission for him to send them. That’s spam.
oh, please - no one is forcing them to download the app
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