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This is the personal blog of John F. Morton. It's where I talk about the stuff that interests me. Primarily technology, marketing and pop culture. If you are looking for my portfolio of work, visit johnfmorton.com. Thanks for stopping by!
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Filtered by Category: Politics
If You’re a Verizon Wireless Customer, Your Privacy Is In Question.
How private is your private life when it comes to Verizon Wireless? If you have not specifically “opted out” of giving away your information, what you do with your phone is for sale. What kind of information is Verizon Wireless selling? According to Ars Technica, the “data on the calls you make and receive and the services that you may make use of” and “the features of your phone and its capabilities.” (Read the full article here.)
Verizon Wireless has been contacting its customers via mail to inform them of their intent to share CPNI data with “our affiliates, agents and parent companies (including Vodafone) and their subsidiaries.” The company says that customers who do not want their CPNI data shared need to call 1-800-333-9956 to “opt-out.” Upon dialing the opt-out number, Verizon customers will be prompted for their phone number, billing ZIP code, and last four digits of their Social Security Numbers (in the case of businesses, their Employer ID numbers).
Failure to opt out will be interpreted by Verizon Wireless as “consent” the company’s data-sharing practices.
This type of opted-in sharing of personal information isn’t limited to Verizon Wireless. If you read over your agreement with your credit card company, you’ll probably find a similar situation. Your privacy is yours only is you claim it in the modern age.
If you have another mobile carrier, don’t assume you are protected against this type of activity. No matter which company handles your mobile service, it’s probably worth a call to them to protect your personal information.
Hillary Got YouTubed.
Back in mid-January, I wrote an entry here I called The YouTubified Election of 2008. I expected this election to get pretty mean simply because it seems to be the trend in politics. But when you add in the power and the anonymity of the internet into the mix, things can get really dicey.
This morning I heard about a mashup video circulating around the web—one part Apple’s famous 1984 commercial, one part Hillary Clinton’s videos from her website, one part a supposed message to support Barack Obama. From a technical point of view, I’m impressed by the skill of the masher/creator, but the piece leaves me feeling cheated somehow. There is no substance to message and, more importantly, no one to question about their motivations for creating it. Is this the work of a true Obama supporter? Somehow I doubt it. Is it the work of the group behind the Swift Boat Veterans ad from the previous presidential campaign? I don’t know, but it seems plausible to me. This kind of attack can only lead to infighting amongst the leading Democratic candidates possibly giving an opening to someone else.
You can see the mashup ad below here.
Update on March 21 at 11:12pm: It looks like a tech guy who worked for the Obama campaign actually created and uploaded the ad. According to ABC News, “ Phil de Vellis, until Wednesday an employee of the company that handles Obama’s Web site, boasted in a posting on the Huffington Post that he made the ad, though he claimed neither the Obama campaign nor his former employer, Blue State Digital — which does software development and hosting for Obama’s campaign — was aware that he had.” Read the story here.
I think this is only the beginning of a new style of attack campaigning though.
The YouTubified Election of 2008
This morning, Hillary Clinton officially announced her presidential ambitions. My impression is that Hillary Clinton a really smart person, who is definitely up the difficult task of being president of the United States. The other candidate competing for my vote, Barack Obama, also seems like a smart, capable person who may also be up for that challenge. (I’m sorry, John Edwards, you’re not up to the challenge when competing against these two.)
But who will win the Democratic primary race, Clinton or Obama? For many years, a candidate’s on-camera persona has held sway with voters than the substance of their message. The JFK Nixon debates are an easy example of this. Radio listens thought Nixon won the debate, TV viewers though JFK did. In the upcoming YouTubified election, I believe this effect will be magnified more than ever. Perception trumps reality. Minus any scandal, the candidate who speaks best, regardless of content, will win the election.
Let me suggest what is reality and what is perception between them. The reality is that Hillary Clinton is a tougher, smarter politician, better suited for the presidential seat. She’s got the experience and the savvy to get people on her side behind the scenes to get her goals accomplished. Barack Obama has also got some of these qualities—he’s intelligent and has some political experience, but if this were a written test, he would definitely come in second to Clinton. But reality is not the only factor here that determines who people cast their vote for. The perception war between these two favors Obama. His on-camera persona is one who feels the voter’s fears and personal struggles, understands his or her lot in life. He’s here to fix things for “me” and has the best chance of doing it because he “gets me”. Ms. Clinton, try as she might, can’t “feel” more than Mr. Obama.
Clinton’s web site promises a conversation happening between each voter and her, facilitated by the web. This is where I think the reality of her political savvy could potentially win. If she’s here, in my living room, listening to me more than Obama is, maybe she can get enough of those “perception” points in her column to pull this out.
I’m definitely ready for a different attitude of the person who occupies the office of the president. Luckily, I think either choice between Clinton and Obama is a much better situation that we are now in.
All I can hope is that the best candidate (but by which criteria) wins.
Now for some video.
Barack Obama on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton on The View
Update: I may be completely wrong about this race. See this story on ABCNEWS called Clinton Leads ‘08 Dems; No Bounce for Obama. Go Hill!