THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN REQUIRES STUDENTS TO GIVE THEIR PHONE NUMBERS TO THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN in order to get access to the central campus zone where Obama will be giving a speech this Thursday. Here‘s the University’s website — attempting to frame the event as a historical presidential visit — which links to a page on the Obama campaign website. You need tickets to go to the event, and the ticket-application form demands information of obvious use to the campaign. So not only is the University contributing a fabulous photo op to the campaign, it is connecting students to the campaign website and almost tricking them into giving the campaign their personal contact information.
UPDATE: The University now openly calls the event a “campaign rally”!
Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Not Even Trying To Hide It
Ann Althouse's post on Instapundit:
Can you imagine what their outrage would be like if anyone else pulled this kind of privacy breech? And what of those who are on the No Call list? By doing this, the University and the campaign are guilty of fraud according to the laws of the FCC.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm usually outraged when i voluntarily give out my information to a political campaign. I really feel as though my privacy has been breached when I hand out my own information...
ReplyDelete"By doing this, the University and the campaign are guilty of fraud according to the laws of the FCC."
ReplyDeleteGuilty of fraud, really? How so? I do not see any element of actionable fraud in this.
It is fraudulent to require telephone numbers because it then allows the entity to claim they have a covenant that allows them to use your phone number and sell it in any manner they choose. It is an FCC violation.
ReplyDelete