Harry
Interesting issue you raise here.
Question. In the era of Big Data should we wonder about this? Should we automatically point a finger at IEBC? In my humble opinion there are myriad other ways that the aspirant could have gotten your information. Let me count the possible ways:-
1. Telcos
2. Hospitals
3. Check in books at various buildings ( ever wonder why Kenyans have a 'peculiar' way of asking you to fill in personal information including your mobile number, ID when you are visiting?)
4. Other Government & Company sources
5. Social Media sources like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
6. Institutions of learning
7. And the list goes on
I see the beginnings (baby steps for sure) of American style usage of Data for targeting voters. It may be questionable how this data is obtained but it is obtained. During the recent US Election Obama's data crunchers were able to distinguish and target specific voters with precise messaging:-
1. A confirmed Democrat will get an email/SMS//phone call to urge him/her to get out and vote (and for good measure bring someone else to vote for Obama!)
2. An undecided voter will get personalized communication tailored to convince him to vote in the right way.
You get the picture...
I believe it is Zuckerberg who paraphrased the now (in)famous statement - In the era of Social Media and voluntary sharing of personal information Privacy is over rated..
This is just the tip of the iceberg. It is just a matter of time before we get our very own David Axelrod.
My two cents
Ali Hussein
+254 713 601113
Sent from my iPhone®
Listers,
This morning I received the oddest message. Through a bulk sms provider, one of the aspirants for MP in my constituency sent me an SMS appealing me to vote for him in the upcoming elections? Now I say odd because to the best of my knowledge I have never communicated to this politician my number and my constituency. In fact the only person I have ever given this dual information is the IEBC during voter registration.
Which begs the question, could IEBC or its registration clerks be making voter registers available to politicians for consideration or otherwise? I'm also curious if this is an isolated event or its happening elsewhere?
Now I don't need to emphasize on the very serious implications if politicians are in possession of such specific data on the electorate. I previously blogged (
http://www.startupkenya.info/2010/08/chopping-up-big-green-giant-safaricom.html) on the dangers of telcos in possession of too much personal data, but it is nothing compared to politicians with this data especially in a country that has experienced deadly post election violence.
I'm curious what measures IEBC has in place for the protection of our personal information and if my experience this morning portends the compromise of all future governmently held e-data?
Regards,
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