I was reading an Ars Technica post about the odd tidbits tucked into a Terms of Service agreement and became curious to see what was in the DNC’s privacy policy. I already knew what is in the RNC’s because I redrafted it last year. We had to make some changes to it to cover our use of an analytics package we implemented in February. The text of the RNC Privacy Policy has morphed somewhat over the years. It was originally drafted by my friend Chuck DeFeo when he was at the RNC, was modified by the Bush campaign, and modified again when I came to the RNC. In other words, it’s been in the GOP family for years…

So imagine my surprise to see so much of the RNC privacy policy staring me in the face with the Crayola-esque wrapper of the DNC site around it.

From the RNC privacy policy:

You do not have to identify yourself or divulge personal information unless you choose to give us your personal information… Should you choose to share your personal information, we would like you to know exactly how that information is used by us to provide a better user experience, and the steps we take to protect your information. And from the DNC:

At the Democratic National Committee (DNC), we are committed to protecting your privacy online. While using our website, you do not have to identify yourself or divulge personal information. If you should choose to give us your personal information, you decide the amount of information you provide.

Pure coincidence, right?

From the RNC:

In our effort to grow our Republican grassroots community online, the RNC may at times ask you to submit information – such as your name, address, phone number and email address – in an effort to provide you the information you want in a more timely manner. If you choose not to give us any information, we may not be able to provide you with the most timely information pertaining to: online events, personal appearances, TV appearances, talking points, activists alerts and other Republican related information.

And the DNC:

The Democratic Party is continually trying to expand online activism and to give voters the information they need in a timely manner. As a result, we may periodically ask you to provide information such as your name, address, phone number and email address in an effort to enhance our ability to work with you as an online activist. If you choose not to give us any information, we may not be able to provide you with timely information regarding events and issues important to you as a politically interested and active citizen.

Still just a coincidence that we are both so concerned with being timely, and use the exact same words to describe our timeliness concerns, right?

The RNC says:

Strict security measures are in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of any and all information pertaining to GOP.com. In addition, GOP.com is run on servers located in a secure server room and locked in a rack. Staff is onsite 24 hours a day, monitoring equipment and services.

The DNC says:

Our website has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of the information under our control. Our servers are located in a locked, secure environment.

Honestly, I find it kind of flattering that the DNC thinks so much of the GOP’s web efforts that they take so much from the RNC site. It’s really nice of them to do so.

On the other hand, I think plagiarism is still frowned upon and Stephen Ambrose got tarred and feathered for language that wasn’t nearly as close as this. At the very least, I think Tom Josefiak, Michael Bayes, and Jason Torchnisky (RNC and Bush campaign lawyers) should bill the DNC for the time they spent writing the DNC privacy policy.

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Tracked on January 11, 2006 09:17 AM