OTA Audit of Presidential Candidates' Websites Finds Majority Fail To Protect Voters' Privacy, Security

‘Honor Roll’ status,” it said. “There was no middle ground.” Presidential candidates who made the honor roll include Republicans Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Rick Santorum, as well as Scott Walker, who left the race Monday. Democratic candidates Lincoln Chafee and Martin O’Malley also made the honor roll. The sites that failed scored an F in privacy practices, it said, with some linking to “nonexistent or inadequate privacy policy disclosures,” while others failed because they reserved the “right to liberally share or sell their donors and site visitors’ personally identifiable information (PII), including addresses, phone numbers, employers and even passport numbers, with unaffiliated third parties that the candidates deem to be like-minded organizations,” said OTA. “Although political websites may not be beholden to the same security and privacy standards as industry, our findings clearly reveal that these campaigns’ data practices are out of alignment with consumer expectations and Federal Trade Commission guidelines for the business community," said OTA Executive Director Craig Spiezle. On a positive note, all candidates had “excellent consumer protection scores,” it said. But Spiezle said that in an era of “mounting distrust of data and privacy practices, candidates must move beyond a compliance mindset and embrace responsible data stewardship” because consumers not only pay with their credit card, but also with “giving away their PII.” Friday at 1 p.m. EDT, OTA will host a webinar to discuss further the findings of the audit with Future of Privacy Forum Executive Director Jules Polonetsky and TRUSTe CEO Chris Babel.