A Firm Aimed At Fighting Disinformation In Political Texting Has Trump Ties, Serious Conflicts

[TheBlackAdder]

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Wireless carriers do filter spam, but they are understandably reluctant to referee what is or is not a legitimate political communication. So this year, a group called Campaign Verify stepped into the breach. The nonprofit describes itself as a nonpartisan service that provides identity verification to federal campaigns, parties and PACs to protect them from being spoofed by bad actors or filtered as spam by wireless carriers.

Campaign Verify gives customer campaigns a secret PIN code via mail or email, and campaigns are supposed to use those codes to generate “secure authorization tokens” that texting platforms then use to show wireless carriers the messages are coming from legitimate political actors. Campaign Verify charges hundreds to thousands of dollars for its verification service. Late last month, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) started urging its candidates’ campaigns to sign up with the company as soon as possible or risk having their texts filtered as spam by the carriers.

But HuffPost spoke with 10 people, all working in the political texting and campaign world, who accused Campaign Verify of pushing an ineffective service on risk-averse campaigns with minimal transparency and misleading claims. The DSCC’s sudden announcement created widespread panic and confusion among Democratic campaign staff. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of losing their jobs.

Moreover, a HuffPost investigation found that Campaign Verify’s board of six directors includes three people who have direct ties to texting vendors that would be impacted by a new verification standard: Roddy Lindsay, a co-founder of Hustle, a texting platform used by the left; and Gary Coby and Gerrit Lansing, the co-founders of Opn Sesame, a texting platform used by the right.

Both Coby and Lansing are also currently working to reelect President Donald Trump: Coby is the Trump campaign’s digital director and Lansing is the president of WinRed, the Republican National Committee’s fundraising platform. . . .

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/campaign-verify-political-text-message-verification_n_5f5be8c6c5b67602f6052d19

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[The Magistrate]

1. Sounds Like 'LifeGuard' Identity Protection, Sir

[murielm99]

2. Who are they, Magistrate?

We have an identity protection service, but it is not this one. Is this one corrupt? I have not seen anything to that effect.

[The Magistrate]

3. If Recollection Serves, Ma'am

It was something Giulliani shilled for, claiming it would protect your identity on-line, incessantly, on cable teevee some years ago. If I have gotten the name wrong I apologize. The idea these people were selling a sort of phony service struck it to my mind, because anything Giulliani shills must be trash.

[murielm99]

4. Thanks.

I would not trust them either, if Giulliani is is involved.

[Eugene]

5. They just resurfaced in Philadelphia.

Incendiary texts traced to outfit run by top Trump aide (Associated Press)

BOSTON (AP) — A texting company run by one of President Donald Trump’s top campaign officials sent out thousands of targeted, anonymous text messages urging supporters to rally where votes were being counted in Philadelphia on Thursday, falsely claiming Democrats were trying to steal the presidential election.

The messages directed Trump fans to converge at a downtown intersection where hundreds of protesters from the opposing candidates’ camps faced off Thursday afternoon. Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground state where former Vice President Joe Biden’s jumped ahead Friday and in a televised address later predicted a victory that would give him the presidency.

“This kind of message is playing with fire, and we are very lucky that it does not seem to have driven more conflict,” said John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s online watchdog Citizen Lab. Scott-Railton helped track down the source.

The texts were sent using phone numbers leased to the text-messaging platform Opn Sesame, said two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition they not be further identified. The company’s CEO is Gary Coby, the Trump campaign’s digital director. It provides text-messaging services to GOP clients including the Republican National Committee.

https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-pennsylvania-philadelphia-340f4c7d57cbd3d4e178fb13a15f274c