Privacy issues and the creation of campaign mailing lists

Modern political campaigns have increasingly turned to direct marketing to disseminate their message, “get out the vote,” and raise funds. Because the information used to create these lists is acquired from a variety of external sources, the lists come into conflict with individual privacy. This article explores the nature of modern political campaigns and describes how mailing lists for electoral campaigns are developed. A “Privacy Thermometer” is developed to assess the privacy implications of using different sources of personal information.