Wow, this thread really blew up... The FSP's privacy policy has never been breached as far as I can tell; I just want to clarify that. From everything I've been told about this new operation, it seems that limited contact information was given to FSP volunteers, not to anyone outside the organization, just as we have always done for local groups, for the big calling project we did during the state vote, and for the earlier (human) calls for the F1K project, which were targeted mostly at people who had indicated on the website that they expected to move within two years.
Once the information is in the hands of volunteers, how do you control what happens to it then? That's a violation right there.
As you know, we've always had to use volunteers when we make phone calls or emails to members. After all, we're all volunteers; there are no paid staff. The policy has always been to give only limited contact information necessary for the job at hand - in this case, just names and phone numbers. Volunteers are instructed to use the contact information only for the specific job. Beyond that, what can we do?
I can remember a time when we agreed NOT to give out phone numbers and addresses to people, even for local groups, because we were sensitive about privacy issues. What do you even know about these volunteers?
And what about paying people to send spam robocalls?
Maybe it's wrong to describe Mark Edge as a "volunteer"; he's an FSP member, but from what I gather, he has been paid to make these calls, simply because we didn't have enough volunteers to make all these calls.
So, yes, you sold my number. To a robocall spammer. Who can't even use his equipment correctly.
Since when did you lose all sense of responsibility to privacy of your members? Or even lost the sense of good taste not to use spammers?
Rich says in this thread his group could have made more human calls - why sell my number to a spammer?
