A Micro-Targeted Democracy Episode | Open Source type
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A Micro-Targeted Democracy
Play Now -->DATE : Tue, 07 Nov 2006 19:00:00 +0500Entered in Database : 2006-11-07 14:00:00length : 21917185 Link to the Show / Show NotesClick to Listen to the Show (24 MB MP3) Hitting the target. [Bretarnett / Flickr] We've seen a lot of talk recently about the GOP's "Voter Vault" system, a huge database of, apparently, every registered voter in the U.S. It's been collated with consumer records, public information, and basically any shred of personal data that can be mined, bought, borrowed, rented, or tracked. (The Dems, playing catch-up and perhaps wanting to shed their soft image, christened their response -- or, rather, one of their competing responses -- Demzilla.) Gone are the days when party, ethnic, and religious affiliations were all that mattered. Do you drink bourbon or gin, drive a Mercury Sable or a Toyota Prius? Do you live in a condo or an apartment? How big was the recent addition to your house? Do you have call waiting? Did you sign a petition to keep Terry Schiavo alive? Do you send your kids to a parochial school? Do you own a snowmobile? Have a hunting license? What magazines do you subscribe to? Did you send in the warranty card for your new washing machine? Kenmore or Whirlpool? What was your response to the call you received from the DNC last year? Last month? To the door knocker yesterday? It's all there. At a certain point, the theory of "micro-targeting" goes, with enough data points and a big enough computer to crunch them, political operatives can assign a likelihood -- an actual percentage -- that you'll want to vote for a particular candidate. And they can identify the tailored message -- like a bespoke suit, made to your measurements! -- that will get you to the polls on election day. So, for example, even though we're neighbors, you might get calls and visitors extolling the virtues of Candidate X's record on abortion and gay marriage; I'm getting a barrage of literature about her green conservationist stance. We'd both hear, theoretically, just what what we "wanted" to hear. We're wondering: Is micro-targeting is a worrisome (if inevitable) embrace by the parties and K street of one of the shinier arrows in Madison Avenue's quiver? Or a positive step towards more "personalized" campaigning? Will this encourage -- and eventually engage -- more voters or simply divide an already (and at least) bifurcated nation? Is there a difference between politics and marketing? Should there be a difference? In short, is this a good development in American democracy -- in any democracy -- or the back swing of its death knell? Update, 11/2/06 12:40pm Paul Voice, a philosophy professor at Bennington College, chimes in that this is closer to death knell: Treating the political arena as a market, with voters understood as consumers and political platforms as products, debases democracy and the idea of democratic citizenship for a number of reasons. Firstly, the legitimacy of the government rests on the free consent of citizens in a democracy. There is a real question of whether the political marketers are seeking the consent of citizens or simply attempting to manipulate them. Secondly, the more segmented the marketing, the narrower the range of views and ideas voters will be exposed to. This divides the public sphere and assumes that voters' preferences are set in advance of political discussion. Thirdly, the ideal of democratic citizenship is a concern with the general good and what is right for the political body as a whole - we (ideally) leave our particular interests aside when we enter the political sphere - the parliament and the market are different places. If voters are treated as consumers then the distinction collapses and we act on our narrow personal interests rather than as citizens.Paul Voice, in an e-mail to Open Source Philip Howard Professor of Communication, University of Washington Author, New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen Alexander Gage Founder and President, TargetPoint Consulting Bruce Gronbeck Professor of Public Address, University of Iowa Author, The Repersonalization of Presidential Campaigning in 2004 in American Behavioral Scientist (Reg. required) Paul Voice Professor of Philosophy, Bennington College Author, Morality and Agreement Extra Credit Reading Don't Mention the War, To: Maelstrom, Free Republic, November 4, 2006: "It's only 12:30 here and I've already gotten three phone calls reminding me that it's the last day of early voting (one from the GOP and two from candidates' campaigns offering rides), and two in-person visits. There's not going to be a single registered Republican in the entire United States that is going to make it to Tuesday evening without being contacted at least once or twice. The Voter Vault is a Godsend." Thomas B. Edsall, Democrats' Data Mining Stirs an Interparty Battle, The Washington Post, March 8, 2006: "A group of well-connected Democrats led by a former top aide to Bill Clinton is raising millions of dollars to start a private firm that plans to compile huge amounts of data on Americans to identify Democratic voters and blunt what has been a clear Republican lead in using technology for political advantage." Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten, GOP Mines Data for Every Tiny Bloc, Los Angeles Times, September 24, 2006: "In Michigan, for example, the GOP contacted snowmobilers by mail, telephone or other personal communication suggesting that Democrats' environmental views stood in the way of greater opportunities for snowmobiling." clintonfan42, 2006 Will Be A Test For GOP GOTV Machine, TPMCafe, June 28, 2006: "Whether or not there is such a GOP GOTV machine may well be discovered after the 2006 elections -- which could be the its biggest test yet." Dave Weissman, You're Being Microtargeted, TomPaine, October 30, 2006: "I may find it a little creepy that Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman know what magazines I subscribe to, what kind of car I drive and how many TVs I own, but does that make it bad for democracy? I don't think so." Ron Fournier, Applebee's America, Simon & Schuster, September 2006. Hat tip to emmetoconnell for suggesting Applebee's America. 9:50 We call it VRM, voter relationship management, and we know that we want you to buy our product on November 7th, and we also know what you like about our product, what particularly attracts you. Alexander Gage 17:23 A lot of campaign managers tell me that they love this data because it tells them who in the U.S. the don’t need to spend time with. Phillip Howard 20:50 What we ended up coming back to is really computerizing the old shoebox-index card system, and it now just enables you to obviously be more efficient. Alexander Gage 24:00 Microtargeting works in a competitive situation where it’s close, where ten thousand votes or three thousand votes, or one or two points can make a difference. The question tonight is just how big is this wave that’s clearly going to start moving across the country. Alexander Gage 33:47 There’s a wonderful academic phrase that this is a “parasocial” contact. It feels like you’re having a relationship with somebody in the same way you do with television characters that you watch over and over. It’s not really social, and yet, you feel in contact. Bruce Gronbeck 35:20 You don’t spend a lot of time now — no one reads the platform, no candidate runs out to say I’m running on the party platform … but now [they] are persuading me in quite a different way, trying to appeal to a series of essentially value issues. Bruce Gronbeck 39:50 The question isn’t whether or not it’s effective … to make consumers of citizens, but whether or not [microtargeting] preserves and protects and maintains what is fundamental to our political system which is that citizens in voting, as they did today, confer legitimacy on the government. Paul Voice 42:45 They want to be a welcome tent for all parties, and that means showing different things to different members. Phillip Howard
Hitting the target. [Bretarnett / Flickr]
Treating the political arena as a market, with voters understood as consumers and political platforms as products, debases democracy and the idea of democratic citizenship for a number of reasons. Firstly, the legitimacy of the government rests on the free consent of citizens in a democracy. There is a real question of whether the political marketers are seeking the consent of citizens or simply attempting to manipulate them. Secondly, the more segmented the marketing, the narrower the range of views and ideas voters will be exposed to. This divides the public sphere and assumes that voters' preferences are set in advance of political discussion. Thirdly, the ideal of democratic citizenship is a concern with the general good and what is right for the political body as a whole - we (ideally) leave our particular interests aside when we enter the political sphere - the parliament and the market are different places. If voters are treated as consumers then the distinction collapses and we act on our narrow personal interests rather than as citizens.Paul Voice, in an e-mail to Open Source
9:50
We call it VRM, voter relationship management, and we know that we want you to buy our product on November 7th, and we also know what you like about our product, what particularly attracts you. Alexander Gage
We call it VRM, voter relationship management, and we know that we want you to buy our product on November 7th, and we also know what you like about our product, what particularly attracts you.
17:23
A lot of campaign managers tell me that they love this data because it tells them who in the U.S. the don’t need to spend time with. Phillip Howard
A lot of campaign managers tell me that they love this data because it tells them who in the U.S. the don’t need to spend time with.
20:50
What we ended up coming back to is really computerizing the old shoebox-index card system, and it now just enables you to obviously be more efficient. Alexander Gage
What we ended up coming back to is really computerizing the old shoebox-index card system, and it now just enables you to obviously be more efficient.
24:00
Microtargeting works in a competitive situation where it’s close, where ten thousand votes or three thousand votes, or one or two points can make a difference. The question tonight is just how big is this wave that’s clearly going to start moving across the country. Alexander Gage
Microtargeting works in a competitive situation where it’s close, where ten thousand votes or three thousand votes, or one or two points can make a difference. The question tonight is just how big is this wave that’s clearly going to start moving across the country.
33:47
There’s a wonderful academic phrase that this is a “parasocial” contact. It feels like you’re having a relationship with somebody in the same way you do with television characters that you watch over and over. It’s not really social, and yet, you feel in contact. Bruce Gronbeck
There’s a wonderful academic phrase that this is a “parasocial” contact. It feels like you’re having a relationship with somebody in the same way you do with television characters that you watch over and over. It’s not really social, and yet, you feel in contact.
35:20
You don’t spend a lot of time now — no one reads the platform, no candidate runs out to say I’m running on the party platform … but now [they] are persuading me in quite a different way, trying to appeal to a series of essentially value issues. Bruce Gronbeck
You don’t spend a lot of time now — no one reads the platform, no candidate runs out to say I’m running on the party platform … but now [they] are persuading me in quite a different way, trying to appeal to a series of essentially value issues.
39:50
The question isn’t whether or not it’s effective … to make consumers of citizens, but whether or not [microtargeting] preserves and protects and maintains what is fundamental to our political system which is that citizens in voting, as they did today, confer legitimacy on the government. Paul Voice
The question isn’t whether or not it’s effective … to make consumers of citizens, but whether or not [microtargeting] preserves and protects and maintains what is fundamental to our political system which is that citizens in voting, as they did today, confer legitimacy on the government.
42:45
They want to be a welcome tent for all parties, and that means showing different things to different members. Phillip Howard
They want to be a welcome tent for all parties, and that means showing different things to different members.
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