Senior Conservative party officials worked on plans to hand over its entire membership database for a commercial venture that promised to make tens of millions of pounds, the Guardian can reveal.
Leaked documents show Tory executives discussed exploiting members’ personal data to build a mobile phone app that could track users’ locations and allow big brands to advertise to Conservative supporters.
Yet senior Conservative officials appeared so captivated by the plan that they prepared to provide the party’s database of members in order to move the proposal forward.
But emails seen by the Guardian reveal officials worked through last summer on the project, tailoring the proposed app’s content and requesting paperwork, including a draft contract.
Cori Crider, a lawyer who runs Foxglove, a non-profit group campaigning for fairness in the tech sector, said: “It’s rather sad, really, to see the Conservative party treating their own brand and membership like a failing asset to be raided and stripped for cash as if they were some kind of vulture fund.”
Civil liberties campaigners have said rules introduced in 2022 requiring voters to produce government-issued identification, such as passports and driving licences, at polling stations risks disenfranchising marginalised groups.
The original article contains 1,002 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Senior Conservative party officials worked on plans to hand over its entire membership database for a commercial venture that promised to make tens of millions of pounds, the Guardian can reveal.
Leaked documents show Tory executives discussed exploiting members’ personal data to build a mobile phone app that could track users’ locations and allow big brands to advertise to Conservative supporters.
Yet senior Conservative officials appeared so captivated by the plan that they prepared to provide the party’s database of members in order to move the proposal forward.
But emails seen by the Guardian reveal officials worked through last summer on the project, tailoring the proposed app’s content and requesting paperwork, including a draft contract.
Cori Crider, a lawyer who runs Foxglove, a non-profit group campaigning for fairness in the tech sector, said: “It’s rather sad, really, to see the Conservative party treating their own brand and membership like a failing asset to be raided and stripped for cash as if they were some kind of vulture fund.”
Civil liberties campaigners have said rules introduced in 2022 requiring voters to produce government-issued identification, such as passports and driving licences, at polling stations risks disenfranchising marginalised groups.
The original article contains 1,002 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!