Google Throws Hat in Ring as Polling Service for Political Campaigns
July 4, 2016
The article on Silicon Angle titled Google is Pitching Its Polling Service at Journos, Politicians…Also, Google Has a Polling Division explores the recent discovery of Google’s pollster ambitions. Compared to other projects Google has undertaken, this desire to join Gallup and Nielsen as a premier polling service seems downright logical. Google is simply taking advantage of its data reach to create Google Consumer Surveys. The article explains,
“Google collects the polling data for the service through pop-up survey boxes before a news article is read, and through a polling application…The data itself, while only representative of people on the internet, is said to be a fair sample nonetheless, as Google selects its sample by calculating the age, location, and demographics of those participating in each poll by using their browsing and search history…the same technology used by Google’s ad services including DoubleClick and AdWords.”
Apparently Google employees have been pitching their services to presidential and congressional campaign staffers, and at least one presidential candidate ran with them. As the article states, the entire project is a “no-brainer,” even with the somewhat uncomfortable idea of politicians gaining access to Google’s massive data trove. Let’s limit this to polling before Google gets any ideas about the census and call it a day.
Chelsea Kerwin, July 4, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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