Political Parties & Voter Privacy: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and United States in Comparative Perspective
Howard, Philip N., and Daniel Kreiss. 2009. Political Parties & Voter Privacy: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and United States in Comparative Perspective. World Information Access Project Working Paper #2009.1. Seattle: University of Washington.
44 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2015
Date Written: 2009
Abstract
This study analyzes the privacy practices of political parties in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Comparative analysis — across countries and between political parties — reveals much about the strengths and weaknesses of current practices, and the role of political parties and policy makers in protecting voter privacy.
Candidates, parties, lobby groups and data‐mining firms have violated the privacy norms of many citizens in all four countries. Political parties themselves face relatively few restrictions, and have developed a wide variety of largely voluntary website privacy policies that rarely extend to the use of voter datasets. There is great variety in the forms of public policy oversight: in Australia the parties are exempt from oversight; in Canada and the United Kingdom policy oversight is developing and preventative; in the United States party behavior is regulated by decentralized government agencies in an ad hoc manner. Moreover, country-specific voter data, analytical tools, and consulting expertise increasingly moves across borders.
The study assesses the current state of the art of voter data mining, offers a history of the political data‐mining industry, and compare the capacity of regulatory bodies in these countries to protect the privacy of voters.
Keywords: privacy practice, political parties, Australia, Canada, USA, UK, voter privacy protection, political data-mining, privacy
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