Be Wary Of TwitterĀ āVoter Registrationā Data Mining
First off, this is not a political post. This is a scam awareness post. Hopefully people help spread the message, considering this is US Voter Registration Day according to todayās Google doodle. You also donāt have to spread this entire post to be helpful, just the two links at the end. I apologize itās long, it could be as short as ādonāt use TurboVote, they give your information to multiple partners who bolster their company value with it, FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST, IGNORE THE TWITTER NOTIFICATION YOU WILL RECEIVE.ā
But I also donāt want it to appear as some low-effort grab for attention. This is the kind of thing that needs lots of proof and explanation. People are exploiting the current political environment to scam young Internet users into giving away swathes of personal information to access services that shouldnāt require anything more than a ZIP code.
This one is particularly bad.
Because it will affect millions.
This evening, I got an odd sponsored post on my Twitter feed. It appeared as so:
Iāve seen sponsored links like this before. A large corporation like Twitter would create expedited guides to help their users participate in their national elections, but would also collect this information for figuring out voter behavior and trends. These would then be offered to the political parties so they know where to focus their efforts better. Itās a pretty basic business.
But the thing that caught my attention was that upon following the link, I was immediately asked to fill out personal information.
Ā The landing page takes you here:
āAfter all, weāre going to be friends.ā
Somebody actually approved that copy. Because thatāsĀ not creepy or anything.
Already, they are asking for your first and last name. Note that online registration for voting is legal in 39 states, so the first check should be to confirm if the user is even able to utilize the service. Also, to help direct me to a verified site that would be able to process my voting application, it wouldnāt need to know my first or last name, it would just need to know what State I resided in.
The next page gets worse.
I cropped out a lot of text in between, but basically, the next page doesnāt waste any time asking for even more personal direct methods of contacting me. Probably for āspecial offersā andĀ āupdatesā from sponsored candidates and action committees buying their way into my inbox.
Theyāll surely ask for my State to get the actual process underway, yes?
Nope. Next page is just me confirming that I am a live and active recipient of theirĀ āservices.ā Note they already have my name and Email/phone number, so selectingĀ āYesā would automatically put me on their recipient list to be pestered. But whatās interesting is if you selectĀ āNo/Iām Not Sureāā¦
Hey, thereās the State pull-down menu! But itās withā¦ehh, a lot of very personal information thatās definitely not needed to verify if Iām eligible to vote, or to redirect me to an official government source to actually register.
Letās put in some fake credentials. Note Iāve been using a browser with cleared cache and incognito mode, so it canāt siphon off my browsing history to circumvent my trickery. I am also using a VPN, so they canāt figure out my location either.
Now Iām very concerned.Ā
So Iām not filling in an application at all. As speculated. Iām just giving a whole bunch of extraneous information, and after giving them my name, my phone number, my Email, my street address, and my current voting status, Iām simply provided with links to the actual government resources and registration page.
I get kicked back to the landing page. The link does not work. Everything I sent in just returns me to a ānullā subdomain.
Alright so this is very suspicious. Who the heck even are these guys? Letās check the privacy policy.
Confirmation that they do store all the information you sent them. However, they assure that itās not sold.
They also claim that their partners do not sell the information either, and they are only given that information simply to perform the services they use.
What curious findings have we here?
Basically, the company is not going to delete its databases of user information if theyāre purchased by another entity. Not even the entire company, just aĀ ādivision or subsidiaryā of the company, like the ādatabase of their collected addresses and user namesā division.
TurboVote is exploiting National Voter Registration Day to data mine you. They claim neither they nor their partners sell user information, but they do collect it, store it, and they willĀ hand it over if an interested party decides to purchase it. Not TurboVote directly, but theirĀ āpartnersā will. They accumulate it, all the while saying they arenāt selling it, and whatās deceptive is theyāre telling the truth, itās not being sold. That isā¦until they put themselves up for sale, and use that gigantic address book to bolster their company value through the roof.
You donāt have to do this. They do not need your home address to relay you to your registration form. They donāt need to keep your information stored on file. They donāt need your name, your voting eligibility, your party affiliationā¦any of that information. DO NOT give your personal information to third-partyĀ āvoter assistanceā scams like this. Itās absolutely abhorrent that Twitter is sending mass notifications to people to use this data mining service, when there are plenty of simple non-committal websites already in existence to provide you the services you need.
Use a trusted .org like NonprofitVOTE instead.
And remember. Please vote. If youāre confused about ballot measures and local election information without the hyperbolic nonsense blasting out of the TV ads, and wish there was some sort of Ballot-type Wikipedia site out there, Ballotopedia is a fantastic source that lays out all the information you need for every ballot out there. Even you, Mr. Ezekiel Zebadiah Abraham of Muttonbutt County, Kentuckabama, theyāll even have comprehensive guides to help justify re-electing Officer Fuzzwhistle The Cat for his fifth term as mayor.
Again, Iām fully aware this is such a long post. Hopefully this helps you guys figure out how to get involved in the legislative process, and moreso, provides you the links necessary to give actual help to others without compromising their security. You donāt have to send them this post (please donāt, itās gigantic), just the alternate site suggested at the end.
