Behind the curtain you are alone. In the party databases you are already marked

Prof. Anat Ben-David, a digital communication researcher at the Open University, warns about the information parties collect on voters ahead of the elections. Parties use the voter registry provided by the state and cross-reference it with data from other sources, such as conversations with activists, responses to political messages, and reports from acquaintances. This allows them to classify voters as supporters, opponents, or undecided, and focus their get-out-the-vote efforts. The ban on reporting from polling stations, according to Ben-David, is a significant but imperfect step, as surveillance may shift outside the polling place, where activists will gather information on voters. Ben-David emphasizes that even friends and family can report on a person without their knowledge or consent, using apps like 'Elector'. She calls this 'political informing' and warns of its social and political costs.

Ahead of the elections scheduled for tomorrow, Prof. Anat Ben-David, a digital communication researcher at the Open University, warns about the information parties are collecting on voters. Parties use the voter registry that the state legally provides to them and cross-reference it with information from other sources, such as conversations with activists, responses to political messages, and reports from acquaintances. This allows them to classify voters as supporters, opponents, or undecided, and focus their get-out-the-vote efforts. The ban on reporting from polling stations to apps, according to Ben-David, is a significant but imperfect step, as surveillance may shift outside the polling place, where activists will gather information on voters. Ben-David emphasizes that even friends and family members can report on a person without their knowledge or consent, using apps like 'Elector'. She calls this action 'political informing' and warns of its social and political costs.