Is Big Data Corrupting the U.S. Election Process?

Molly Kozlowski

September 8, 2019

https://www.digitalethics.org/essays/big-data-corrupting-us-election-process

"Election's Darkest Secret: Data-Digging"

First Impression:

Based on the title firsthand, big data can corrupt the U.S. election process or any type of election process, depending on what sort of data and how strong of an impact it can create.

Quote: 

"Thus, voters must challenge their legislators, commercial data vendors, candidates, and social media platforms to respond to the need for stricter security and transparency to protect the integrity of the American electoral process."

Reflection Proper: 

I haven't had much of an experience on voting, but I do know a lot of things regarding data nowadays: it's one of the things in our life that can tell our entire story: who we are, what we do, how much money is spent and gain, and every little thing that tells us our entire autobiography. Election, as far as I know, is a crucial event in our lives, and every decision a voter makes counts and affect our entire world, for we are the ones choosing the ones who are going to be in charge of us, and as stated by the article, and I quote: "voters can expect a flurry of targeted advertisements fueled by big data on their doorsteps, inboxes and social media feeds" especially since the next election cycle is about to come this year around, and when it comes to big data, campaign strategists, for the sake of the campaign of the candidate-in-question, use this to "micro-target" specific voters via advertising in order to make sure that it perfectly fits the goals and needs of their candidate and/or platform: this way, the candidate can have a specific chance of victory over his or her opponents in the election process; but this sort of thing spells out jeopardize for the electoral process's integrity. Personally, I see it as an invasion of privacy, for campaigns always rely on voter information which is collected either by the following: voter registration (involves getting their phone numbers, party affiliation, and gender) or response data in the form of door-to-door canvassing, telephone conversations, and websites and online surveys and such, and such practices and acts that involves collecting data on an unprecedented scale such as for instance in the case of the Cambridge Analytica consulting firm during the 2016 election cycle, which involved the harvesting data from 50 million Facebook users, which is then sold to the Trump campaign in order to make "targeted online ad buys" during the election" --- those really are threatening and not to mention darn inconsiderate. The way I see it, the people running for office are mostly big liars, in the case of like this: they always say they are truthful, loyal, and do things like reduce drug abuse and provide better security and all sort of promises, but when one sees the inner lining, the bigger picture, they are really not that truthful, especially from the start of election, for they are willing to resort to anything just to win, even if it involves getting ahold of our data and using it to their advantage. So, my advice to the world would be this: check to see if your candidates running for offices is as true as their word, and challenge them, including social media platforms, commercial data vendors, and every individual involved in the election process, to be true to their words and to show respect and integrity and respond to the need for stricter policies, security and regulations so that the election process can continue to create leaders that will provide a good example for future generations.

5 Things Learned From Article: 

1. I learned that  we should be responsible for who we vote for.

2. I learned about the use of big data in the US election process.

3. I learned about the different examples of how one acquires big data and its effects in the election process.

4. I learned that we should enforce better and stricter policies involving data.

5. I learned that our candidates should set a good example from the start of their campaign, like for instance: not resorting to invasion of online privacy and unsanctioned acquiring of huge data from social media.

5 Integrative Questions:

1. How does one do the election process correctly and making sure that our choices don't lead to disastrous consequences?

2. What is the use of big data in the US election process?

3. How does one acquire big data in the election and what could it be its effects?

4. How should we stop such atrocious practices that questions data integrity?

5. How does a candidate ensure victory in the correct manner, and also make sure that voters trust him or her completely in the right way?