A few years ago, free-associating the letters T-M-I would elicit the response – Three Mile Island. Today, ask just about anyone who is not living in a cave and they’ll say T-M-I stands for TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Thanks to the internet and advances in digital technology we are being bombarded with information. It sometimes feels like we’re heading for an information meltdown.
Conversely, most of us willingly give up personal information every day. When we use our credit cards, swipe our CVS or Safeway or Barnes and Noble cards, or fill out that “anonymous” questionnaire, we’re telegraphing personal information. That info is then mined by consumer data companies, corporations, politicians, dating services — almost anyone who has a product to sell or a message to convey.
It’s called microtargeting and has become the hot new weapon in the political campaign arsenal.
Microtargeters take all the little bits of information — your car, where you shop, your kids’ school, your favorite television shows — then target issues that are important to you. They tailor an appeal to get you to vote for their candidate. The Republicans effectively used microtargeting to help elect George W. Bush in 2000 and re-elect him in 2004.
In 2008, Democrats beat the Republicans at their own game. Microtargeting is credited with helping Barack Obama win states that went Republican four years ago.
Vijay Ravindran, chief technology officer at Catalist, a Democratic databank, explains how microtargeting works:
How should we feel about all our information floating in cyberspace available for anyone to see? Are we okay with strangers making assessments and then targeting us with a tailored sales tactic/message? True, it’s legal. This IS the information age. We’re USED to handing over personal information. But before we surrender all our rights to privacy, I think we should consider the potential for malicious manipulation. It’s a pandora’s box – once our personal stuff is out, it can’t be put back.
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