Reproductive rights will certainly be on the ballot Nov. 8 in Wisconsin’s race for governor.
After the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade, a state law from 1849 went back into effect.
Republican candidate for Governor Tim Michels supports the law, which bans doctors in Wisconsin from performing abortions. There is an exception in cases where the mother is at risk for losing her life. The law does not punish women who seek abortions.
Democrats are challenging the ban in court.
An ad by the Alliance for Common Sense claims Michels donated to a group that uses technology to track women who enter or go near abortion clinics.
Tax filings show the Michels Family Foundation donated to a group called Veritas Society in 2010, 2011, and 2015. Tim Michels is listed as a trustee.
Veritas Society’s website explains its technology, “Utilizing our advanced Veritas Society digital technology, otherwise known as “Polygonning” we identify and capture the cell phone ID’s of women that are coming and going from Planned Parenthood and similar locations. We then reach these women on apps, social feeds and websites like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat with pro-life content and messaging.”
Dr. Michael Zimmer is an associate professor of computer science at Marquette University. He explained how the technology gathers cell phone data.
“You can literally draw a polygon, a shape, around something like Fiserv Forum or the Marquette campus and be more precise in terms of being able to know exactly when someone’s phone enters that space. That can trigger some kind of advertising or some kind of alert,” said Zimmer.
The practice is common among advertising groups across the country.
Although this may sound scary, or an invasion of privacy, you likely agreed to participate.
“We often allow that kind of location tracking for convenience. The question is making sure people really know what’s happening and knowing exactly what apps are tracking you and which one’s aren’t,” said Zimmer.
Zimmer says there are some things you can do to try and protect your privacy, but it is hard to avoid completely.
“You could turn location services off everything. You’re going to lose some functionality out of your phone. So, it’s important for each user to go into those settings and see which apps they have set for location tracking and whether it’s set to something like ‘always’ or ‘only when I’m using’ that app,” said Zimmer.
Truth be told, the ad takes things a bit too far when comparing the tracking technology to an ankle bracelet worn by criminal offenders.
We reached out to the Tim Michels campaign for a response, but they did not meet our deadline to respond.
You can watch Truth Be Told stories every Tuesday on TMJ4 News at 6 leading up to Election Day on Nov. 8.