Issue Position: Privacy Issues and Facebook

Issue Position

Privacy issues have garnered more and more attention lately as technology has advanced. As a former prosecutor for 11 years in Manhattan, and a 9/11 volunteer at ground zero, Stuart recognizes that our government must have effective tools to combat terrorism and crime. However, he firmly believes those tools must have limits. According to Stuart, neither our government nor private industry should have the right to collect information from the public at their whim. To permit the unfettered collection of information from our electronic devices is nothing less then a blatant invasion of privacy and is akin to George Orwell's Big Brother coming to fruition. Stuart is most concerned about private industry collecting information and data on individuals without clear advanced proper disclosure and consent in plain English. As a former prosecutor of internet related crimes, a Marketing Major with BBA in Business, and a former General Counsel for an Internet related marketing business, Stuart is well aware of the complexities and competing interests with regard to these issues.

Most troubling to Stuart is Corey Booker's coziness to Facebook's founder Marc Zuckerberg and several other Internet related industry leaders in the social media industry and who collect the most data on us all, Linked In, Twitter, Google, Apple, etc. There is no doubt that further regulation will be needed to prevent private enterprise from impinging on the privacy of the public and to insure that they do not cross the line of our right to privacy. As Stuart says:

"the private markets, left to their own devices and without regulation, will stretch the technology boundaries to the limit as market forces push competitors to one up the other with regard to obtaining more and more information about us, which in turn assists in their marketing efforts to further invade the privacy of us all. Once private enterprise maintains such sensitive data, the data is subject not only to resale by the collector, but also to grand jury, regulatory or third party civil subpoenas and the information is then distributed further. This is a huge problem which I expect to grow exponentially over the next several years, requiring legislation be put in place.

Unfortunately, similar to Wall Street, Mr. Booker has decided to cozy up to the chiefs of Facebook and others who are raising substantial funds for his campaigns. "Have no doubt the millions of dollars of support provided by Facebook comes with a price and if the Mayor is elected, New Jersey and the country will see that price in the form of our right to privacy being trampled on for the sake of industry", Stuart says.

It was just disclosed in the New York Times on August 7, 2013 that Booker incredibly even has his own start up technology company while Mayor, which funding was provided not by Booker, but by the heads of Google and similar large internet companies. This goes well beyond just political contributions and instead raises the issue of direct personal payments by a critical industry in this Country that he will need to cast significant votes on, including privacy issues. As the New York Times article incredibly stated:

Mr. Booker personally has obtained money for the start-up, called Waywire, from influential investors, including Eric E. Schmidt, Google's executive chairman… The company says it is still under development. Yet in a financial disclosure filed last month, Mr. Booker, 44, revealed that his stake in the company was worth $1 million to $5 million. Taken together, his other assets were worth no more than $730,000.

In exchange for the millions of dollars of support provided to Mr. Booker, both politically and even personally now, he clearly provides these Internet chieftains access and influence, not only with respect to controlling, but also with respect to obstructing any legislation that may hinder their ability to continue to gather data. One would be naïve to believe that a Cory Booker will be an independent voice on legislation that would regulate Facebook, the largest social networking web site in the world or Google the largest search engine in the world. New Jersey does not need a Senator who, before he even gets to Washington, is beholden to the very company that would be the focus of legislation. Rather, New Jersey needs a true independent Senator.

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