Thread by @PrivacyMatters

1/ I note the issues around the conservative party conference app .. BUT OMG! I took a peek at the Conservative Campaigner app - "the official mobile app for supporters of The Conservative Party” and OH BOY …

2/ the app was developed by Social Political Media, the same entity behind the anti-abortion apps LoveBoth & MY8 used in the Irish referendum on abortion, .. but Social Political Media also developed the …. Vote Leave app, the Trump-Pence 2016 app, the French Renaissance app

and the same ‘developer’ is behind the NRA’s official app. Oh boy.

Yep, the UK @Conservatives official campaign app is developed by a US based political campaigning app platform UCampaign ucampaignapp.com

OK need to go make Son’s supper - back soon. and Oh boy

@Conservatives 4/ The app. The ‘developer’ is Thomas Peters, the CEO of UCampaign (the Trump, NRA apps) and now RumbleUp a ‘powerful P2P texting’ campaign platform.

Embedded in the Conservative Campaigner ’the the official mobile app for supporters of The Conservative Party’ are four trackers

@Conservatives 5/ The trackers include Facebook Analytics, Facebook Login, Facebook Share, and Google Firebase Analytics - an issue right there.

@Conservatives 6/ The Privacy Policy for the app, leads to this Ucampaign page with a warning that is not private or safe

@Conservatives 7/ proceeding takes you to conservatives.com/privacy

The approach to cookies alone is not compliant with the ePrivacy rules or the GDPR. And look at those trackers …. maybe th @ICOnews should look at this app?

@Conservatives @ICOnews 8/ No mention of the app or any app in the privacy policy. No mention of Campaign - and WHAT data is uCampaign receiving as a result of the use of this app developed by them?

NO Mention of tracking in the privacy policy - either with reference to the site or embedded in app

9/ so what data exactly is being processed by the embedded trackers and for what purposes? What is the legal basis under the GDPR?

Does the uCampaign as the developer of the app have access to that data or otherwise harvest it? Is the data held on uCampaign servers in the US?

10/ have the Conservatives conducted any assessment?

So many questions. So many permissions.

I’m beginning to wonder if @MattHancock advised them on how to develop the app - I mean just look at #HanCocksApp

@MattHancock 12/ Unlike on the Google Play store, after installing the app, individuals are advised the app is ‘powered by uCampaign’ - clicking the link takes you to the uCampaign home page. The Privacy policy is ambiguous in many ways

@MattHancock 13/ You can sign in with Facebook , or phone number or email ..

@MattHancock 14/ The registration email appears to come from Conservative Campaigner but in fact comes from [e-mail] So, data is processed and held by uCampaign in the US. This raises more questions.

15/ I asked uCampaign a question and got a GDPR bot

16/ Even GDPR bots need a rest

17/ I think I’m done .... for now.

18/ serious questions should be asked of the relationship between the Conservatives and uCampaign - of which the latter developed apps on its platform for the Trump-Pence campaign, Vote Leave, the NRA and anti-abortion apps LoveBoth & My8 in the recent Irish abortion referendum

19/ oh my

https://twitter.com/goldfinchgazer/status/1046142294037078019?s=21

It gets even more worrying

20/ the arrogance and complacency and the it worked for ‘vote leave’ is insightful and deeply troubling

conservativehome.com/parliament/201…

21/ uCampaign is a platform on which ‘campaign apps’ are built and supported. It is a platform that integrates with other platforms such as Facebook, Google Civic API, Twitter, Nation Builder.

So, some of the data protection and privacy issues that arise, include:

22/ where the data are processed (USA by uCampaign?) & the legal basis for such transfers; whether the data are separate from other uCampaign ‘campaigns’ - what have the Conservatives done to assess whether data are siloed? The gamified behavioural nudges within the app and the

23/ and the data that generates and the analysis of such behavioural data (& the legal basis) especially as app permissions include:
- add or modify calendar events and send email to guests without owners' knowledge
- find accounts on the device and
read your contacts
-

24/ and access approximate location (network-based) and precise location (GPS and network-based).

The app lets you “Earn Action Points (AP) for answering Calls to Action
* Unlock activist badges and see your progress over time
* Invite your friends to join you on the app!

25/ so the app appears to generate a lot of data about an individual’s behaviour on and off the app and their connections & provides a unique unfiltered call to action tool ... nudging behaviour of many directly and indirectly.. this involves detailed analysis of data

26/ it’s important the app and the practices underpinning it are subject to robust scrutiny. Any political campaign app needs to adopt the highest of standards.

27/ and do look at this report of the app by @riptari techcrunch.com/2018/07/30/one… and for which I am remiss for not seeing when she published it :( Sorry Natasha - I must stop juggling too many things)

28/ I only looked at the Campaigner app following reports of the ‘other’ app. I was curious to see how it performed from a data protection and privacy perspective. My interest was immediate piqued when I saw the involvement of uCampaign (& my previous look into it’s involvement

29/ in the Irish abortion referendum - & oh my, what a tangled web that was).

techcrunch.com/2018/07/30/one…

30/ ok let's dive in

31/ oh goodness me. Claiming the daily bonus leads to nudges or encouragement to earn more points by sending in invitations & that leads to a request to allow the Campaigner app to access my contacts

32/ I cleared contacts and created one to test. Contacts do not appear to be uploaded. The communications appear more like marketing ploys that rely on refer a friend that seek to bypass law - except here, the Conservatives are the 'instigator' of the unsolicited marketing msg

33/ so there is a question of the Conservatives compliance with law on unsolicited marketing messages and which require consent. What say you @iconews ?

34/ hmmm. Clicking the 'share to twitter' option opens a dialogue window for uCampaign requesting I authorise uCampaign to update my profile and post tweets on my behalf. OMG! No Way.

35/ there is also no privacy notice as to what uCampaign will do with the data is has access to and the insights it will gain.

36/ the app is very clearly geared to encouraging people to promote the Conservatives by giving points or sharing via twitter, email, for successful invitations ... you can't proceed / unlock 'features' without points. Manipulative. A LOT of metadata for mining & analysis

37/ This is a key part of the app. Requiring people to onboard others and promote party messages etc in order to earn points of credits so they can access resources / services within the app. Gamification.