Over the weekend The Los Angeles Times published a new poll suggesting that we may have reached the tipping point on online privacy, finally forcing policymakers to take notice and react to ease people’s concerns.

The USC Dornsife/Times poll found a stunning 82 percent of Californians say they are very or somewhat concerned about “companies collecting your personal information when you visit their websites or use their services.”

The new poll confirms a Consumer Watchdog’s poll findings nearly two years ago when we were battling to raise privacy issues as a priority that 84 percent of Americans favor preventing online companies from tracking personal information or web searches without your explicit approval. Ninety percent supported more laws to protect privacy.

The most damning aspect of the USC Dornsife/Times poll is the lack of trust shown in some of the tech world’s biggest brands.  Respondents  were asked to rate six on whether they trusted the companies to be responsible with personal information, with 0 meaning no trust and 10 meaning complete trust.

In a clear blow to the tech giants, none scored above 5.  Apple was highest with a score of 4.6, followed by Google at 3.8, LinkedIn at 3.0, YouTube (owned by Google) at 2.8.  Facebook was 2.7, just ahead of last place Twitter, 2.4.

Those are not numbers that any company who relies on consumers can possibly be pleased with, no matter how you spin it.  As Linda DiVall, president of American Viewpoint, the firm conducting the poll, told the Times:

“I thought the ratings were strikingly low. If I were involved with the branding image of those companies, I would be very concerned.”

That may be a reason industry is scrambling to appear more privacy friendly. A number of key players are participating in the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) effort to set a standard for a Do Not Track mechanism and what the obligations would be for a site to be compliant if it receives a DNT message.  Yahoo! last week said it will honor the standard and Google has finally agreed to offer the DNT option its browser, Chrome.  Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer already give users the option; the problem is that websites are under no obligation to honor the message.

But, as I said, I think we may have reached a tipping point on privacy.  In February the White House offered its privacy proposal, calling for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.  Last week the Federal Trade Commission released its privacy report and strongly endorsed Do Not Track.

Conservative Rep. Joe Barton, (R-TX) told the Times that the poll “reaffirms my opinion that privacy is a big deal – and it’s becoming a bigger deal.” He is partnering with liberal Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) in sponsoring privacy legislation.

Silicon Valley’s premier companies have earned our distrust by continually playing fast and loose with our information. Google unilaterally changed its privacy policy and announced it will combine data across all its services.  It was then caught deliberately circumventing the Safari browser’s privacy settings. The point is that we’ve reached a tipping point, precisely because the companies have continued to invade our privacy.

We need to continue pushing back and demanding action from policymakers until we finally have regained control of our information. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz got it right when he said nobody has the right to put something on your computer without your permission. Now we need to make sure the Administration, Congress and the FTC enact laws and regulations to protect our privacy. If they don’t, in California at least, there is another option: a ballot initiative in 2014.

In honor of the Mayor meeting with the Board of Supervisors for the first-ever question time this week, the Yee campaign has decided to start social media question time.  Each week, we’ll post one topic for Senator Yee to take questions on from our social media community!

Leland and the campaign team will select three questions to answer from the questions submitted and we’ll post the answers to those questions the following week.

This week’s topic is health care.

So it’s time to submit your questions!

Here’s what to do.  We will be taking questions in three places:

1.  On our Facebook page.  Make sure to like our Facebook page and look for the appropriate comment thread.

2.  On Twitter.  Make sure to hashtag your question with #LelandYee.  You can direct the question @LelandYee if you want.  But they MUST have hashtag #LelandYee.

3.  On our Calitics and DailyKos blog.  These will be the only posts that we’re taking questions in, so if you post it in the forums or comment another blog post, we won’t consider it.

We close for questions on Friday, April 15th at 6:00 PM (PDT).

I wanted to give you a quick updated from the campaign trail.

Help us build our online community – share this note on Facebook with your friends

Nurses Endorse Yee

Leland received the sole endorsement of the California Nurses Association – the bigges endorsement in the race to date.  “His record in areas such as mental health service, HIV funding, children’s health and hospital disclosure should make every San Francisco proud.”  Press release. Bay Citizen Story.

Building a clear vision for San Francisco’s future

And having a lot of coffee along the way!  This week, we held our 35th 20/20 coffee conversation about our shared future in San Francisco.  It feels great to see so many of you out on the campaign trail so early.  If you have not joined us for a 20/20 coffee conversation – come meet Leland and share your thoughts.  Upcoming coffee conversations.

Showing our civic pride…Go Giants!

We’re excited for the Giants season and really enjoyed being able to connect with other Giant fans and show our civic pride through the campaign.  Congratulations to our winners Zach Austin, Katrina Lezcano and Jonathan Louie and a special thanks to everyone who participated in our Facebook sweepstakes.  Join Leland on Facebook.

New team members

We’re pleased to announce several new members of the Yee campaign team – Anthony (Field Director), Laura (Field Organizer), Nate (Field Organizer) and Vince (Volunteer Coordinator)!  Help keep the campfires burning late at the Yee headquarters.  Donate.

Thanks

Campaigns – especially in San Francisco – are won with an army of volunteers and supporters.  If you want to lend a hand, we would love your help.  We need phone bankers, canvassers and folks to answer the phone, Facebook captains, food for volunteers and staff working late and more. Can you lend a hand?

Sincerely,

Jim Stearns

Campaign Manager

Yes, you read that subject line correctly.

We’re huge Giants fans.  We want to connect with other Giants fans.  That’s why the Leland Yee for Mayor campaign is giving away three pairs of tickets to the Giants opening weekend games on April 9th and 10th.

Diehard fans can stop reading here and enter to win Giants tickets on Leland’s Facebook page.

I can still vividly remember the joy of the World Series parade last fall.  People from all walks of life, of every age, from every corner of the city came out to celebrate the Giants victory and civic pride.

It was a great moment to be a San Franciscan.  Now, it’s time to show your pride again.

Enter to win tickets for a Giants opening weekend game on Leland’s Facebook page.

It’s clear we still face a tough economy and difficult choices in the upcoming city budget.  We need to improve our schools, fix Muni, make it easier for people to raise a family in the city and have a more civil political conversation.

But you only get so many opportunities to celebrate civic pride as an entire city.  That’s important too!

So go on…you never know when we’ll get another change.

Enter to win tickets for Giants opening weekend game on Leland’s Facebook page.

While most people were fixated on the “Donkey Kong” mention in last night’s speech by Chris Daly, what about the actual content of the speech? Immediately before Donkey Kong, Daly made his promise to Board President David Chiu:  “I will haunt you. I will politically haunt you for the biggest fumble in history.”

As Daly is termed out this week, can he make good on this promise? The answer is a yes, and big time. For three key reasons.

Chris Daly’s Relationships: If you only read CW Nevius, you might be misinformed enough to come to the conclusion that Daly is a pariah in San Francisco. But in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Chris Daly is the most accomplished legislator on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors because he knows so many people so well that he can put together big deals, often with strange bedfellows. Tonight is the “roast” of Chris Daly, which will have as many downtown suits as SOMA hipsters. Daly can scroll through his cell phone and identify dozens of people he knows on each side of every issue. On every single issue, Daly can make Chiu’s life miserable, but Daly also has the political instincts to identify the most critical pressure points.

Social Networking: Chris Daly’s Facebook is an active community with 2,562 people that he has repeatedly used to create news that is picked up by the traditional press. Daly’s twitter is only followed by 621 people right now, but that’s mostly because Daly prefers Facebook. While those numbers may not sound huge, scroll through the names and you’ll see a who’s who of influence makers in San Francisco. Daly can change the framing and dynamics of issues before the Board, especially with early messaging. If he bought an ipad, he could easily post from behind the bar. That is some serious haunting potential.

Buck’s Tavern: David Chiu should be haunted by the mere thought of Daly now having a watering hole so close to City Hall. No matter what issue, operatives on the other side of Chiu can stop by and drop info to Daly. The nature of San Francisco’s political fissures means that in any given year, almost everyone in town will have an issue where they disagree with Chiu and agree with Daly. Plus, Daly opened the bar with Ted Strawser, who is a triple-threat with political game, online game, and event organizing mastery. Already, people are gravitating to Bucks as it fills the long vacant role of a City Hall bar. Drinking Liberally has already moved to Bucks — it is rapidly turning into the place to go for politics in San Francisco. Plus, look at the geography. Two short blocks from Van Ness & Market. In District 6, but District 5 begins across the street and District 8 is two blocks away. District 9 starts less than a dozen blocks away and Chiu’s District 3 is three stops away on the Muni underground or a dozen blocks up the hill on Van Ness. Location, location, location. There’s a reason Willie Brown ’99 and Matt Gonzalez ’03 both ran their campaigns out of a building two blocks away.

Those are the three major givens and three huge reasons why Daly can haunt David Chiu. But he could also easily go further. I’d be surprised if Daly didn’t consolidate his new watchdog role into an actual organization. He can raise far more money at the bar then it would cost for him to start a PAC, set up a website, and start building out his list.

Chris Daly can easily haunt David Chiu. And from what I’ve heard, it’s On Like Donkey Kong!

I believe I used a Prodigy email address to sign an online petition calling on congress to “censure President Clinton and move on” back in 1998. As I’m sure you know, out of those efforts rose the organization MoveOn, which sent emails to my Yahoo account for years and to my gmail for the last six years or so. It has been one of my favorite organizations, through their ups and downs, for a decade.

Which is why I simply can’t fathom the blunder they made yesterday, thrusting themselves into the California Attorney General’s race to fluff former Facebook Chief Privacy Officer (best oxymoron ever) Chris Kelly. In the final days of the campaign, no less.

MoveOn’s fluffing of Kelly began yesterday morning when staffer Marika Shaub posted a link on MoveOn’s FB Group, “Facebook, respect my privacy!” Shaub urged the 180,000 members to share a note from Chris Kelly with all of their Facebook friends and later MoveOn sent an email to an unknown number of members of MoveOn’s giant list with Chris Kelly’s message (I received it twice).

As I long-time Moveon member and devoted supporter, I was shocked that MoveOn’s current leadership seems to have so little understanding of the dynamics and history of the battle for privacy. It was only back in 2007 that MoveOn went to war with Facebook, scoring a major victory for privacy by leading the organizing to shut down the infamous “Beacon” program. MoveOn was attacked repeatedly in the press by…Chris Kelly — who was not defending privacy, but defending Beacon. In fact, Kelly made so much money eroding privacy at Facebook that he’s dumped over $12,000,000 into his attempt to buy the California Democratic Party nomination for Attorney General.

If, like MoveOn apparently, you have forgotten how Chris Kelly fought MoveOn to defend Beacon, follow me after the jump. If you remember the history better than MoveOn, feel free to check out how Chris Kelly’s campaign is already using MoveOn as a validator — against attacks on Beacon, in the LA Times.

Here’s a reminder from The New York Times Chris Kelly fighting MoveOn to defend Beacon:

MoveOn’s demands could be satisfied by making the Beacon feature “opt in.” Right now, users who don’t want the information displayed need to opt out after purchases at each participating external site.

However, Chris Kelly, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, said MoveOn is “misstating the way this process works.”

He said the purchase appears only in the news feeds of confirmed friends and on the individual’s profile (users have control over who can see their profiles), not to the “world.” Mr. Kelly also pointed out that two ways to opt out, at the point of purchase on the external Web site, via a box that pops up, but fades away in under a minute and the next time they sign into their accounts. If users ignore the notification, the purchase information will be displayed, but nothing happens until the user signs in.

Chris Kelly was mocked for this over on ABC News’ site:

The argument made by Facebook in support of this is disingenuous, and uses that old trick I learned in my PR days of isolating one error in the opponent’s claim and using that to dismiss their entire argument. In this case, Chris Kelly, Facebook’s “chief privacy officer” (one of those new corporate titles that’s going to come back and bite companies) told the New York Times that MoveOn is “misstating the way this process works.” In particular, he said, the purchase is only shared with confirmed friends and on the user’s own profile, not to the “world.” At the same time, he does confirm, that if the user ignores the notification and fails to opt out, the purchase information will be automatically displayed.

And this coming from the Chief Privacy Officer of Facebook.

Chris Kelly’s attacks on MoveOn to defend Beacon made the hop across the pond, getting picked up by The Times:

A Facebook spokesperson said that MoveOn.org was “misrepresenting how Facebook Beacon works”.

He said: “Information is shared with a small selection of a user’s trusted network of friends, not publicly on the web or with all Facebook users. Users also are given multiple ways to choose not to share information from a participating site, both on that site and on Facebook.”

Earlier this year, Facebook shrugged off privacy fears when Chris Kelly, the group’s chief privacy officer, told The Times: “We have always said that information [submitted by users] may be used to target adverts.”

“Shrugged off privacy fears”?

Of course, Chris Kelly was mocked, MoveOn was right:

So far, about 13,200 out of over 55 million members have joined MoveOn’s protest group and Facebook is standing by the statements of chief privacy officer Chris Kelly, who told The Wall Street Journal that the company has been transparent with users and that it welcomes feedback from those who have concerns. According to the Journal, Kelly acknowledged that the company could change its policies based on customer reactions but that so far he says reaction has been “fairly muted.”

While the Beacon scandal was the most extreme example, the fact of the matter is user privacy was continually eroded at Facebook during the time Chris Kelly was in charge of privacy. Play with this interactive chart, click on the different years to watch what happened to privacy at Facebook.

Chris Kelly got amazing rich eroding privacy at Facebook, which MoveOn honorably fought. Until yesterday, when out of incompetence over the history of their own campaign and cluelessness over progressive politics in the largest state, they came to the aid of Chris Kelly during the final days of his $12 million vanity campaign.

Californians don’t want an Attorney General doing for Justice what Chris Kelly did for privacy. It would be nice if MoveOn were leading the charge against Chris Kelly, instead of giving him cover to defend himself against ads criticizing Chris Kelly for his role in the Beacon scandal…when he fought MoveOn.

Pride at Work’s latest stunt infiltrating the Westin St. Francis is now a YouTube sensation, generating over 35,000 hits yesterday.  It was featured on two local evening news shows, the progressive webzine Common Dreams, and the LGBT blog Towleroad – and on countless Facebook pages.  But besides being a fun video, it deftly shows how activists can adapt to new ways of getting their message out.  Mass rallies are much less effective today than they were in the Sixties, but too often progressives want to re-live this era by using the same tools and expecting a different result.  People don’t get their news from just a few channels anymore, so it’s possible to have a march with thousands of people with little effect.  Today, ideas catch fire and take hold through online social networks.  “Caught in a Bad Hotel” was not the first YouTube flashmob, but it was the first one with a political purpose. And hopefully, it won’t be the last.

In Taking On the System, Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas made a point that I’ve been thinking a lot over the past two years.  Whatever era they live in, activists must adapt to the most effective medium to get their message across.  In the 1920’s and 30’s, Gandhi used newsreels to show how the British were exploiting his people.  Martin Luther King used television to cover civil rights marches, and to capture the hateful response from Southern law enforcement.  But today, people get their news in a far more fragmented way – on the Internet, through their friends, on Facebook and in silly YouTube videos.

I argued this point yesterday on (where else?) my Facebook page, but not everyone was convinced.  The video was fun, but how do we know it will be effective at getting people to boycott the Westin St. Francis?

A friend responded with this point: “It will be seen by a lot more people than your average – ‘what do we want and when do we want it’ protest – because as much as I am pro union and will support boycotts, I don’t forward info on every single boycott because seriously, nobody would read my reports if I did.  I saw the YouTube video and then saw that the Palace Hotel was part of the boycott list and canceled my reservations for tea at the Garden Room. I probably would not have found out about the boycott if it wasn’t entertaining enough to go viral, and I definitely wouldn’t have posted it in my [Facebook] status and then five of my friends probably wouldn’t have posted in theirs …”

In the 21st Century, people spend a lot of time online – and a huge amount on Facebook, talking to their friends and procrastinating.  A fun YouTube video can go viral, because you’re reaching people where they’re at – and it’s easy for them to post it on their page.

As far as getting “bang for your buck,” Pride at Work hit a home run.  They didn’t have to mobilize a huge number of people, the whole action took 5 minutes and nobody got arrested.  How many times can you say that – and get that amount of media coverage?

Could Pride at Work have done a similar direct action without YouTube or Facebook?  Of course, but no one would have seen it – unless they happened to be in the Westin St. Francis at the time, or activists were lucky to get reporters present – never a sure thing.  

And while onlookers in the hotel appeared supportive (activists handed out flyers during the flashmob about the hotel boycott), it can be difficult convincing an apolitical tourist who already paid for their room to check out of the hotel in solidarity.  By broadcasting it on YouTube and generating a viral campaign, more will hear about it and not stay there.

We won’t know how effective “Caught in a Bad Hotel” will be until Gay Pride weekend, when thousands of LGBT tourists come into town.  The Westin St. Francis was targeted in part because a lot of them stay there that weekend.  Pride at Work used the Lady Gaga theme to let them know they are welcome in San Francisco, but don’t stay at a “bad hotel.”  Getting a plug yesterday in Towleroad was very helpful, because the popular blog on gay politics and culture is based in New York.

“Caught in a Bad Hotel” didn’t just make me happy because it’s a fun video.  It made me hopeful that creative activists can use this medium to more effectively get their message out.

Paul Hogarth is the Managing Editor of Beyond Chron, San Francisco’s Alternative Online Daily, where this piece was first published.

Caliticians:

In mid March, Meg Whitman made a promise to the voters of California to release her tax returns.

But she just broke that promise and flip-flopped on releasing her tax returns. Despite her TV ads telling us otherwise, it’s clear Meg Whitman neither means what she says or says what she means.

In recent days, the San Jose Mercury News, Monterey County Herald, Vallejo Times Herald, and Marin Independent Journal  have all called on Meg Whitman to keep her promise and release her tax returns.

Why is Meg Whitman flip-flopping on releasing her tax returns?

We simply don’t know what Meg is hiding. But now, you can help us find out.

Today we are beginning a coordinated action campaign to demand that Meg Whitman release her tax returns, and we will be doing it out in the open-unlike Meg-in a place where everyone can see it: on Meg Whitman’s Facebook page.

Please visit Meg Whitman’s Facebook page right now, become a fan of her campaign (Don’t worry, you can remove yourself from her fan list a few minutes later!), and then leave a comment on her wall asking Meg why she hasn’t released her tax returns.

Some examples of possible comments are:

“Meg, why haven’t you released your tax returns? California voters deserve to see what you are hiding.”

Or

“Meg, please don’t break your promise to let California voters see your tax returns. We want to know who we are voting for.”

And it’s as simple as that.

Two weeks from today is tax day. We all have to file our tax returns and we are calling on Meg Whitman to stop flip-flopping and release her tax returns by April 15.

Please visit Meg Whitman’s Facebook page right now, and help us hold Meg Whitman accountable.

Thanks so much! We couldn’t do it without you!

Team Level the Playing Field