I guess Bloomberg plans for a formal announcement on Tuesday that he is running for president on the Democratic ticket. I would not recommend voting for him – but that is a whole other discussion.
Either way, there has been a ton of discussion about how he will use his money to win the primary. While I understand the nervousness of the other candidates about that, my bigger fear is how he will use the data he has been collecting on cities.
As you know, Bloomberg launched the American Cities Initiative, and mayor TenHaken and others in his administration have been working closely with the Bloomberg organization as well as many other cities across the country. Bloomberg has been building a network of ‘Data’ that would be invaluable in running for president.
Is it legal to use this data? I’m not sure, and I don’t even know where I would look up something like that, but some things are clear. This is ‘commercial’ data that anyone can use, so that may be the legal ‘loophole’ here.
Bloomberg has been financing this initiative and our city leaders and other city leaders across the nation have justified that it is okay to collect this data on us because Bloomberg is paying for it and it isn’t costing the taxpayers a dime.
Don’t be fooled by this Trojan Horse. Bloomberg and his organization isn’t built of dummies. Having valuable information about our city (that is in a very red state) like transportation, codes, voter addresses, housing, employment, taxation, politics, etc. is invaluable to Bloomberg.
I never assumed that Bloomberg was doing this out of the ‘goodness of his heart’. It is clear to me now that is a bigger part of his run for the presidency.
If he announces on Tuesday, if I were the mayor of Sioux Falls, I would immediately cut ties with the organization and request that any data collected on us be turned over (even if they probably have it backed up somewhere).
It is one thing to learn how to innovate in our city – it’s entirely different thing to help someone run for president. I always knew our association with this organization smelled very fishy, and now I know why.
I think Bloomberg will be a flop candidacy. You can have all of the data in the world, but if you don’t have an ounce of charisma to go with it, your data doesn’t matter.
In 2016, everyone said that Hillary would win because of data versus Trump’s non data approach, but we all know what happen there.
Plus, the last time Bloomberg ran for mayor (2009), he barely won. It wasn’t suppose to be a close election, but in hindsight, it was a precursor to the rumblings that then fed the Tea Party movement.
I completely agree with you on this. A complete Trojan horse. Well said.
78 on Valentine’s Day. And he’s 5.5 feet tall.
Data mining has become more important than gold mining. It’s practically impossible to keep it from affecting elections.
Announcing for President is a PR promotion. I don’t think he’s serious but he gets his few minutes of fame. I’ve thought about running. I’d never want to hold political office but I’d like to keep my name out there for Sexiest Man Alive.
If were luck enough to still be here in another 20 years, we wont be looking back at Trump or impeachments or politics but how big tech stole our privacy.
I firmly believe our data will turned against us and held over our children. Anytime your name is posted on the net, data on you is collected. Another reason why I’ll stay LJL.
LJL, I know who you are, and I didn’t use any fancy footwork data collection to figure it out. But your secret is safe with me.
Yep sure….Waiting for you to stop by for that cup of coffee. Door is open 8 to 5!
Next time I need some tractor parts I will stop by.
“Tractor parts?”…. Would there be any platinum involved? 😉
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