Trump Campaign Using Phone Location-Tracking
Trump Campaign Using Phone Location-Tracking | |
---|---|
Short Title | President Trump Reelection Campaign Contracts Phunware to Monitor Peoples Locations and Target Political Ads |
Location | United States |
Date | September 2020 |
Solove Harm | Surveillance, Exclusion |
Information | Location, Demographic, Behavioral, Preference, Computer Device |
Threat Actors | Trump campaign team, Phunware |
Individuals | |
Affected | American voters |
High Risk Groups | Voters |
Tangible Harms |
2020 Trump reelection campaign contract the firm names Phunware, which obtains location and user data to infer “gender, age, lifestyle preferences” of potential voters.
Description
In September 2020 President Donald Trump’s reelection effort has retained the services of a technology company that specializes in the mass collection of smartphone location data, which can be used to track voters for political targeting purposes. Surveillance
Phunware, in a section of its website, discusses the company’s ability to obtain GPS location data and the Wi-Fi network used by an individual, as well as user data that can infer an “individual’s gender, age, lifestyle preferences” — potential tools for identifying and influencing voters. They use third party apps to collect the data - from popular mobile games to apps used for checking the weather, perfecting a selfie, and online banking — to harvest vast troves of information about potential voters.
The company claims to offer a wide range of services based on user location data. For example, individuals who attend a political rally or protest can be identified as potential targets for ads. Individuals have no was of knowing that their behavior is being analysed in that way, so it can be interpreted as Exclusion.
Breakdown
Threat: Trumps campaign monitoring voters location through Phunware
At-Risk group: US voters
Harm: Surveillance
Secondary Consequences: not known
Threat: Phunware draws conclusions about individuals based on quietly collected location data from their phones to better tailor political ads for them
At-Risk group: US voters
Harm: Exclusion
Secondary Consequences: not known
Laws and Regulations
Sources
https://theintercept.com/2019/12/11/the-donald-trump-campaign-is-deploying-phone-location-tracking-technology/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/political-campaigns-track-cellphones-to-identify-and-target-individual-voters-11570718889