PrintSmith wrote: This is the best you've got today Raees? Ever stop to consider that the place the information that you are saying is being mined is information which you yourself have provided to Facebook, Dun & Bradstreet, Linked-In and a host of other sites? These are the places that you should be upset with because they are the ones who sold that information which you provided to them. If you didn't give them permission to sell your information, then there are no veins of information to mine.
Was it for partisan purposes that you didn't include the portion of the article that noted:
Obama's campaign employs its own form of data analysis to lure potential supporters, via Facebook and Twitter, to fine-tune messages for supporters and potential donors.
I know that it wasn't mentioned until the 17th of 22 paragraphs by the "reporter" for the AP that the Obama campaign is engaged in data mining of it's own, but I thought I'd mention it in case you didn't make it all the way through the article and had missed it.
The Facebook and Twitter analysis by Obama is small potatoes next to digging into credit accounts, families and children, voter registrations, charitable contributions, property tax records and survey responses.
Here are a couple more quotes from the AP article referenced above.
There are no records of payments to Buxton from Romney's campaign, the Republican National Committee or a joint fundraising committee.
Buxton said he's working for the Romney campaign because he wants "to be on the winning team."
Businesses use those kinds of analytics firms to answer key questions for clients, such as where to build a retail store or where to mail pamphlets touting a new product. The analysis doesn't directly bring in campaign contributions, but it generates the equivalent of sales leads for Romney's campaign.
Businesses use those kinds of analytics firms to answer key questions for clients, such as where to build a retail store or where to mail pamphlets touting a new product. The analysis doesn't directly bring in campaign contributions, but it generates the equivalent of sales leads for Romney's campaign.
The project relies upon a sophisticated analysis by powerful computers of thousands of commercially available, expensive databases that are lawfully bought and sold behind the scenes by corporations
So this really is no big deal other than the misleading title of the thread, except that the "tech savvy" Obama team got out teched.
Correct Raees - it is harvesting the data that everyone scatters in plain sight about themselves. When you answer a poll and give them your age, gender, political affiliation, marital status, age and number of children, income range, and all the other tidbits about your personal life. The information from the census is public, the voter rolls are public, the vehicle registrations are public, who owns what piece of property - the amount of.personal information each of us willingly scatters on the ground is endless. It is absolutely nothing to order a mailing list for those who earn $500K a year or more, are married, own a home, are registered with a given political party, vote on a regular basis and live somewhere in Colorado. If I wanted to market to only those who fit those parameters I could have the list in my hands within days of.requesting it.
Want a list for women under 35 with a college degree who are registered with the party of Democrats or are unafiliated to spread the "war on women" meme and hit them up for a political donation? No problemo - it's just a.couple mouse clicks away in today's world.
I work in the printing trade Raees - I know just how easy it is to get such a list. Heard the radio spots telling you they can get you sales leads so that you can attract new business during these hard economic times? Same idea, different application.
Raees wrote: Romney has raised hundreds of millions of campaign dollars by using a secretive data-mining project that sifts through Americans' personal information.
LOL. I think they need to tweak their algorithms. I got a RNC "survey" in the mail. My opinion is important to them because I am such an influential repub. rofllol
Wait, there is more. While there are options for smaller amounts, they want me to know that I can donate up to $30,600 to them. Obviously their demographic function needs calibration. I told them to go pi** up a rope but them my wife would not let me mail it.
Obviously their demographic function needs calibration. I told them to go pi** up a rope but them my wife would not let me mail it. 
