August 17, 2024

By Burton Kelso
The Technology Expert

Political campaigns figured years ago that text messaging and calls to cell phones are one of the best ways to get the attention of its intended audience.

It is estimated that 98% of text messages are read within 3 minutes. The telemarketing landscape has changed with calls go to smartphones as opposed to landlines. With these statistics, it makes sense that you now receive a large amount of political marketing to your smart devices as opposed to traditional methods such as TV, Radio, and Email. You’re probably wondering how marketers got access to your private smartphone number. In this day and age data is king and political markets have numerous ways to target you. Here’s what you need to know.

How Did They Get My Number? Your cell phone numbers have become a very valuable marketing tool because so much of your online and purchasing behavior can be easily tied to your smart device. It’s a good possibility your voter registration information requires a phone number. If you’ve ever participated in any type of political campaign or donated using your smartphone, signed electronic petitions or participated in surveys or polls they’ll often ask for your number. Even if you haven’t, any number of companies that you did business with that asked for your phone number could share it with ‘third parties’ because you agreed to these terms buried in the lengthy ‘terms of service’ document that no one reads. With your smartphone being your primary number, you can see how political marketers have your number. Also, you’ve probably shared your smartphone number with a large number of public records that anyone can access. Data collectors can pull your data from hundreds of sources to build a database of information about you and your loved ones. Many of these data brokers take your information sell that data to anyone willing to pay, including political campaigns.

The apps on your phone are spilling your secrets. You probably didn’t know this, but virtually every app that you have installed on your smartphone could have a data-sharing arrangement as part of their terms of service. Your social media apps are certainly a prime source. A good rule of thumb to remember is to assume any app that is free to use is one that likely collects and shares its data with third parties.

Pay attention to those data breaches. The companies you work with who you’ve trusted to keep your information safe are guilty as well. Data breaches seem to happen all of the time and when they occur, you need to be aware so you can prepare yourself for an influx of text messages and phone calls.

Don’t rely on the ‘Do Not Call’ registry. You probably didn’t know this, but political calls are exempt. The FCC says that using automated systems for calling and texting for political ads is not allowed, but marketers can call or text if they are using manual methods. If a political ad is sent via text, it should have the option to reply with ‘STOP’ to opt out of future communications from that number

Solutions to stop the onslaught of texts and calls. There are several things you can do limit the amount of political marketing messages that appear on your phone. Here’s what you can do.

Stop sharing your smartphone number. Your mobile number should only be for family and close friends. If you share it with a business, you need to assume that it will be sold to data brokers.

Get a Burner Number. No, you’re not a criminal, but in today’s digital world, you should get a public number that you share with everyone you’re not close to. Services such as Google Voice and Whatsapp allow you to create a phone number that isn’t tied to your smartphone account. Start using this number for all your purchases, reservations, or any non-personal communications so you can shield your real number. Apps like Google Voice and Whatsapp allow you to use your existing smartphone but receive calls, texts, and voice messages from the new number. If it becomes overrun, simply get rid of it and sign up for a new burner number.

Forward to 7726. If you receive a message that you believe is spam, you can forward it to 7726 (SPAM) on any carrier to report the sender. Make sure you forward the entire message without any modifications for it to be properly assessed.

Stop your social media from sharing your secrets. Most social media platforms include a clause in their terms of service that allows them to share the information that’s collected from your smartphone. To stop this practice, you can go into the settings of your smartphone and turn off the settings for apps that are sharing your data.

Hopefully, this will give you tips to help you reduce the amount of political calls and texts that are showing up on your smartphone. If you have any questions, please reach out. I’m always available.

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