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Political Campaigns Mining Online Data To Target Voters 131

Posted by Soulskill from the watching-you-through-your-webcam-too dept.
New submitter nicoles writes with this quote from an AP report: "The Romney and Obama campaigns are spending heavily on television ads and other traditional tools to convey their messages. But strategists say the most important breakthrough this year is the campaigns' use of online data to raise money, share information and persuade supporters to vote. The practice, known as 'microtargeting,' has been a staple of product marketing. Now it's facing the greatest test of its political impact in the race for the White House. ... The Romney team spent nearly $1 million on digital consulting in April and Obama at least $300,000. ... Campaigns use microtargeting to identify potential supporters or donors using data gleaned from a range of sources, especially their Internet browsing history. A digital profile of each person is then created, allowing the campaigns to find them online and solicit them for money and support."

Submission + - A Libertarian Visits OccupyWallStreet (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The reporting of the occupation of Wall Street by protesters unhappy with the current economic climate follows the tired, predictable pattern of the fight between Republicans and Democrats. This fresh take is a third point of a view, that of a Libertarian. It's both supportive and critical, but not in the way you might expect.
Government

Submission + - US assassinates it own citizens with no due proces (boingboing.net) 5

Submitted by mutherhacker
mutherhacker writes: Science fiction novelist and technology activist Cory Doctorow blogs about the recent U.S. government assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, without any due process (no chance to face his accusations in a court of law), a clear violation of the 5th amendment. To top it all, U.S. citizens cheered the assassination of their fellow citizen. First Bin Laden, now al-Awlaki, next? CmdrTaco is my guess.More details.

Submission + - US State Dept. confirms no legal basis in Anwar al (state.gov) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: “It’s interesting,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at Friday’s daily briefing amid a barrage of questions on the airstrike that killed al-Awlaki in Yemen. Nuland said she asked State Department lawyers whether the government can revoke a person’s citizenship based on their affiliation with a foreign terrorist group, and it turned out there’s no law on the books authorizing officials to do so. “An American can be stripped of citizenship for committing an act of high treason and being convicted in a court for that. But that was obviously not the case in this case,” she said. “Under U.S. law, there are seven criteria under which you can strip somebody of citizenship, and none of those applied in this case.”
Science

Science and Religion Can and Do Mix, Mostly 1345

Posted by samzenpus from the can't-we-all-just-get-along? dept.
coondoggie writes "A recent Rice University study found that in one of the more vitriolic social (and increasingly political) battlegrounds, science v. religion, there is more common ground that most folks believe. In fact, according to the study, only 15% of scientists at major U.S. research universities see religion and science as always in conflict."
Earth

Submission + - Two More Google Software Dogs Go to Heaven

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Two more software products will be going to Google Software Heaven shortly. On Friday, Google issued a death certificate for Google Health (date of death = Jan. 1, 2012), and added that the lights will go out on Google PowerMeter on Sep. 16, 2011. 'We've observed that Google Health is not having the broad impact that we hoped it would,' said Google. 'There has been adoption among certain groups of users like tech-savvy patients and their caregivers, and more recently fitness and wellness enthusiasts. But we haven't found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people.' Regarding PowerMeter, Google's 'Green Energy Czar' had this to say: 'We're pleased that PowerMeter has helped demonstrate the importance of this access and created something of a model. However, our efforts have not scaled as quickly as we would like, so we are retiring the service.' Google added that the White House will carry on the fight after being inspired by success stories like the Harker School (tuition: $36,435), which used grant money to acquire off-the-shelf sub-metering technology that revealed their energy bill could be reduced by not air conditioning the gym from 9pm-3am.

Submission + - FCC Commissioner approves merger, joins Comcast (washingtonpost.com) 1

Submitted by odd42
odd42 writes: Meredith Baker, one of five FCC Commissioners, voted 4 months ago to approve Comcast's takeover of NBC Universal.

She is set to become Senior Vice President of government affairs for NBC Universal. On June 3, less than a month before her term was set to expire, she makes this switch.
Government

Submission + - House Extends Key Provisions of Patriot Act (wsj.com)

Submitted by odd42
odd42 writes: The House voted 275-144 Monday night to extend three key provisions of the Patriot Act, overcoming a small uprising of House Republicans last week that briefly delayed the measure.

Wisconsin GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner's proposal allows federal agents to continue to use enhanced surveillance powers until Dec. 8. The extension still needs Senate approval to become law.

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