Very interesting stories on Channel 4 News at the moment about the Trump campaign database from 2016 and the targeting of voters.
They seem to be making a lot about what actions the campaign took, but they seem to have missed one of the more interesting points.
When I was reviewing my family history at the National Archive I discovered some secret service information on one of them.
This was 1938 – and they had enough information to track him. Most of us don’t care about this kind of thing because, well, who would be interested in us, we are the bland underbelly of society.
But the Trump database covered more than 85% of the people eligible to vote in the USA. That means the average Joe is on the database. Channel 4 went round talking to people telling them what information was on the database.
I remember we had a local issue that the council wanted to talk to us about – they were going to put in road calming humps – my view was that the one planned outside my house, which sat on a 90 degree corner, was a waste of time (and dangerous). As I talked to the councillor at the end she looked through a paper printout (a few cm thick) and told me what way they thought I voted. I had never told anybody how I voted. This was in the early 1990s.
The fact that come out to me from this set of reports is just how detailed the information being collected about the grey majority is, and how much it is being used to try to manipulate all of us, whether for shopping or for voting. Social media has made this much easier. Are you being manipulated?
I often think about posting rubbish just to see what effect it has. Why not give it a try?