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Enabling identity theft, the Organizing for America way!

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  October 16th, 2010 at 09:30 AM  | 

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Executive summary: the Democrats are handing out people’s phone numbers to anybody who feels like phone banking for them.  Specifically, they’re handing out people’s full names, city and state, gender, age, political affiliation, and phone number.  Presumably, these would be people who contributed to either OfA or the Democrats generally – which means that these are people with credit cards.  In other words, this is identity-theft softcore pr0n.

Safeguards?  Ha!

This is NOT standard practice for political parties.  When a party has a volunteer work their phone bank, they typically have the phone bank worker sign documentation (paper or digitally), usually stating that they won’t misuse the information to which they are being granted access.  The phone bank typically controls access either with a password account if the system is online, or by physically limiting access to where they have the phone bank if it’s an office style set-up.  You don’t just let any person wander in off the street, rifle through your voter files and make calls on your behalf.

But that’s just what the DNC and OfA are doing here.

True, it’s a cherished tradition in American cultural life that actions should have consequences, but throwing 25 bucks to a plausible-sounding flim-flam man in 2008 probably shouldn’t put you at risk at having your identity stolen in 2010.  Or even having your name and relevant info put in a robocall spammer database.  Although the Democrats clearly disagree; and I bet that nobody involved with this program is in the database…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: If you’re a Democrat who doesn’t see why this is a big deal, then you need to stop and think.  Seriously. This is one time where thinking like a paranoid and a conspiracy theorist would actually be helpful for a change…

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COMMENTS

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  • pamela1631

    Think a MAJOR smack down is important

    Or make a few calls from the list and let the persons on the other end know the 411 of what OFA is pulling.

    I just wonder how many people have orders of protection that might be compromised now.

  • http://politizilla.blogspot.com/ zilla

    This information is available to EVERYBODY now until OfA takes it down, so why not use it to our advantage?
    Call the people on the list and explain to them the damage democrats are causing this country. When they ask how you got their information, tell them the truth, that OfA put it up on an unsecured website where absolutely anyone who wants it can get full access!
    See how much they want to support those who betrayed them then!

    You can read all about this idea at my blog:

    http://politizilla.blogspot.com/2010/10/use-their-own-tools-against-them-heres.html

  • harlan

    …for anyone who actually does receive a call from proselytizing dems…

    Talk to them. Feign interest. Offer to “think about” sending money. Anything to keep them on the phone.

    If they’re talking to you, they’re not talking to someone who might actually be convinced to vote for them.

  • E Pluribus Unum

    Not that I approve of any such thing.

  • Finrod

    As it is, if people that gave money to the Democrats end up with all kinds of hassles as a result, with any luck it’s going to make them less likely to give more money to them in the future. Either that, or someone will steal their identity and their money, so they won’t have money to give to the Democrats in the future.

    Usually when Democrats score an own goal of this magnitude, they were actually trying to do something to benefit themselves. This is just a case of colossal stupidity.

  • dqm1

    This is SOP for GOTV ops on both sides. I have worked phones and the streets with lists with all of that information plus which elections out of the last 8 you voted in and codes for issues you have identified as important to you in party surveys. Other than the issues codes it is all public domain. Actually, building that kind of database was a Rove specialty and we were better at it than the Dems for a few years. Don’t cast stones here folks and for crying out loud DO NOT start using info the Dems are putting out to harass voters.

  • Carol Tarasewicz

    I have been a regisered R for years. When Deval Patrick became governor here in MA, he used the voter rolls and put it all on his website.

    The first website up had my full name, address and phone number along with my mother’s. I had removed my mother from voter rolls in 2005 because of Alzheimer’s and she was in a nursing home starting 7/22/2005. That website also had a Bush./Cheney did it page with all the fools that think it was an inside job to make GWB look better. I had called and screamed at them several times and got the response that “it was the peoples’ site” I don’t know what is still up on in now since I looked at it a few times with an email address that is no longer available,

    Patrick started it, now Obama is continuintg it. I have gotten several calls to go help Obama, including the day before election of 2008. I was an R then. I called back and yelled at them. I have gotten some recently to tell me how I can help with the mid-terms but I have never been a D, I was either unenrolled or R. I am now unenrolled to get a better ballot.

    They do not have my credit card number because I never gave a cent to a dem.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    …is beyond me completely. Actually, that’s untrue: I know why. It’s very awkward that OfA has made such a n00b error here. Because, no, it’s not SOP to give out entries from your donor lists to everyone on the Internet.

  • qixlqatl

    I use a prepaid card, and I don’t use the same one for more than a few weeks. Costs a few more bucks (less than $10, usually), but limits the damage potential…which is currently a very moot point, since I can’t really afford to do anything like that, anyway…

  • mirac777

    DQM sounds like a plant of some kind here. Yes, I actually have facts that back my statement up, unlike them. I am a registered Independant here in Florida. I work with the GOP office here. They give me signs to put up, flyers, and Bumper stickers. They also have a phone bank here. No you dont get handed a list with everyones info on it to do what you want with. They have the phone room here. It is all very controlled.They also dont post all that info on the net for all to see either. If Rove has done this, PROVE IT. I have NEVER saw that done by the Rebublican Party.
    The GOP acts with honesty and integrity.They wouldnt be so stupid as to do something like this. The dems would. That has been proven time and time again. Anyone saying otherwise is sadly misinformed, or promoting the Hope and Change propaganda that is threatening our Nation today.

  • proudmarinemom

    I manned the phones for Republican O’Donnell’s campaign here in Virginia. I never saw a list with anything other than a name, nothing more than what you’d find in the phone book.

    Everything is done electronically. The volunteer pushes a button which dials automatically and if voicemail answers, he or she pushes another button for a recorded message. If an actual human answers, he or she reads from the brief script, wishes the callee a nice day and pushes the button for the next one. No doubt other campaigns have other methods, this is the way we do it here.

  • storminwgfp

    from them yesterday. (I’m on their email list so I can keep track with what they’re doing.) So I called and pitched Meg and Carly and they were both receptive. What fun!

  • storminwgfp

    I get phone lists from the registrar of voters. That’s public information, not donor lists.

  • edintexas

    But that would be for small donors, not exactly the Dems “meat and potatoes”. Now if the Unions and Leftie organizations (especially Soros funded) could be hit with this, THAT would make a big dent in their fund raising. But that isn’t possible.

    Note that I’m sure that the misguided actually do contribute small donations, along with the large donors concealing their contributions by pre-paid credit cards and names like George Smith and Porky Pig.

  • edintexas

    What you mean someone who makes the moral equivalence argument (unsupported by fact), and was registered less than a week ago, might actually be a newbie troll?

    As for this statement of yours “The GOP acts with honesty and integrity.”, don’t you think that might be an overly broad statement? I vote for them, but there is no way I would agree with an across the board statement like that,

  • http://politizilla.blogspot.com/ zilla

    I find the hubris of the libs to be simply stunning. By now, dozens of entities have posted this story and yet if you go to the link, it is all still up there for anyone who wants to use it for whatever purposes they desire.
    I still say we should be using their own tools against them, as I described in my blog which I posted the link to further up in this thread the other day.
    Call these people and let them know how the Dems policies are even going to hurt them, and when they ask how you got their number, tell them the truth! Let them know how OfA betrayed them by putting their personal information on an unsecured public website accessible to everybody which males them prime candidates for identity fraud. See how much they like the koolaid then!

  • timchgo9

    work for the local Republican party prior to the primary in February. The list I got had the registered voter’s name, and phone number, in addition it showed the number of registered R voters at that phone number, and I think that was pretty much it. There was nothing else on it that would indicate their “pet” issues, or how many elections they voted in, or anything else. dqm is a troll, nothing more.

  • mirac777

    Look at the complete history of the GOP during the last 2 elections. Now look at the Democrats history. One party hid their donations, used ACORN to fraudently boost votes, and has people like Rangel, and Waters up on ethics charges. I live in the now.I want to restore some sanity and accountability into our government. Which party should I “mainly support’ today and which one has proven to be more honest ? Your statement holds no water with me, considering the issues we face today. I tediously vett all candidates before voting as best I can. My statement is that that person SOUNDS like a plant. I maybe could have worded it better, but then again, I dont feel the need to justify my opinion on just EXACTLY what percentage of the GOP acts with integrity. Nobody’s perfect, especially in politics.

    Being a newbie, since you choose to split hairs here, doesnt make anyone a troll. I made an observation based upon the statements. Its one thing to disagree, its another to chastise someone for stating their opinion, unless they are making a baseless argument. Everyone has an opinion. Some carry more weight than others.