Apps to Identify Who Backs Political Ads

Campaign button image by Shutterstock/Tom McKeith

July 23, 2012 By News Staff

Two new mobile apps launching later this year will help voters find more information about the political ads they see. First reported by TechPresident.com, the apps will use audio-fingerprinting technology to identify political advertisements and then provide users with more information about them, such as who paid for the ad.

It’s a legal requirement that political advertisements provide information on who paid for the ad, but such information is often too cryptic to be useful. One of the apps, called Ad Hawk, is being developed by software developer Bob Lannon and the Sunlight Foundation. The other app is called the Super PAC App and is being developed by two MIT graduate students.

"What we hope is that this app is going to reach below the upper-crust politicos who are already inclined to dig up this information on their own," Super PAC App developer Dan Siegel said, reported TechPresident.com. "We are hoping that this will reach a user base who finds it curious that every single commercial from August onwards is a political one, but doesn't really care to sign up for three hours of homework every night to Google stuff."

You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/wireless/Apps-Identify-Backs-Political-Ads.html

| More

Digital Political Candidates Driven by Technology

Add Your Comment

Name *

Comment *

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.