Group Brief 3 Helen Drislane Diana MacLean Ian Rose Charles Baakel Brian Lee I Overview As a public figure running for office you most certainly will fall under close scrutiny and you should be aware that you have many fewer privacy rights than the common individual There will thus be new privacy concerns you must consider and you may not be able to enjoy the same level of anonymity as you did before Not only are there various sources of potential threats inside and outside of your campaign but there are also various surveillance methods of which you should be aware The following advice highlights the key sources of potential threats in addition to the concerns presented by real time surveillance and data aggregation that could be detrimental to your campaign II Sources of Potential Threats People have various reasons for watching your every move Attempts by these people to expose information about you can be damaging to your campaign The key sources of potential threats are the following The Press The press as usual is on the hunt for any tidbit of personal or irregular information Their business is to frame high profile individuals usually by misrepresentative reporting The press however is also one of your main sources of publicity Exploiting their interest in you will be to your advantage Competitors Though they have different motivations your competitors have just as much if not more power than the press in constructing incriminating information about you Your Campaign Staff People like to gossip and the campaign office is a great source of gossip material Your staff can easily disseminate sensitive information documents and files Even though most of them have benign intentions keep in mind that you may not be able to trust every employee working on your campaign Individual Parties Public encounters are for the most part unpredictable you do not know the agenda of individual parties that you might meet III Worries of Real time Surveillance You can anticipate various levels of real time surveillance based on different physical locations and scenarios People will expect you to follow certain unspoken standards in various situations deviating from these in the slightest even whispering and having someone read your lips could attract unwanted interest Public Speaking Engagement e g Debates Press Conference As a public figure you already have much experience presenting yourself on camera Your actions in this type of situation are certainly the most scrutinized but the dangers here are low because there are few types of clandestine surveillance that could occur that would capture any more information than is already overtly revealed to the press That said be aware of your words and actions when seemingly off camera e g during breaks or when another candidate is speaking Just because the focus is off of you doesn t mean that somebody isn t watching E g Congresswoman McKinney1 Public Engagement Professional Capacity Non Speaking e g fundraisers dinners community events events at which you are not speaking but will attend due to your candidacy Similar to the category above the press is often heavily involved with these types of events Open conversations are monitored and should be treated as public information Your focus however should not be on directly interacting with the press but rather on your own performance as a candidate Thus take the opportunity to chat with attendees move around the room to greet people share some safe jokes etc In essence it is important that you do not neglect the expected social responsibilities and opportunities of the function Following the guidelines from the Public Speaking Engagement category too rigorously would detract from your performance at the event and overall cause your campaign more harm than would the small risks inherent in such behavior That said do not become overly casual in speech and actions in many ways the press are waiting for any social gaffes e g Bush vomits on Japanese Prime Minister2 Public Appearance Non Professional Capacity e g out to dinner coffee shopping etc Any appearance in public in which you are acting as a normal citizen and not as a candidate for governor falls into this category In this situation the press will not be your main surveillance concern Assume that a camera is present nearby most of the time cell phones for instance are near ubiquitous today and a significant number come equipped with cameras In general it is unnecessary to be paranoid but a healthy dose of common sense will mitigate much of the surveillance risk when you are out e g Austrian cell phone scam3 Workplace Information leaks in political campaigns are unavoidable but there are a number of steps that may be taken in order to reduce them We advise constructing a tiered environment in which the most confidential information can be accessed only by a select few 1 Restrict the access of campaign data and information to those who may really need it You may entrust sensitive material to aides with whom you are close http www msnbc msn com id 12464118 from RSS http en wikipedia org wiki George H W Bush 3 http www livingroom org au cameraphone archives politician caught cheating by paparazzi camera p hone php 2 while restricting the information shared with those lower on the office hierarchy such as temps and interns Restrict outside interaction with members of the staff to designated individuals Often press and competitors will seek out individuals on the lower tiers of the management staff to gather any sort of information which may be particularly harmful to your image It is also important to maintain a formal professional composure in the office Reports of embarrassing incidents can easily be leaked through personal channels Private Life In general there is little danger of surveillance in the home This is certainly not for lack of capability a home could easily be bugged or watched from outside for example but instead is due mainly to a protection by law and b public expectation Firstly even if damaging information was obtained from the home it would likely be illegal and thus could not be posted in reputable sources newspapers TV news etc Secondly the public generally has an expectation of privacy in the home for all Americans As such any damaging information obtained from your home life would most likely be weakened in the eyes of the public because of the method by which it was obtained IV Data Aggregation Threats Surveillance threats are