In last week’s Brigada, item 14 (“The Last Bit: We Need to Read the Terms Before we Act”), we reported what we knew at the time (that the company could sell at any time and hand on your cell phone number to whomever). However, the more we learn about that service, the better it seems. First, a Brigada participant (or two) happened to be personally familiar with the people who run the app. They actually contacted them and the CEO actually commented and explained the company’s practices a bit more. For example, there is language built into the company’s DNA that, if sold, they’ll literally work with the buyer to compel them not to share your personal information. But also, the CEO of Polling Everywhere pointed out that (duh) if people didn’t want to give up their cell phone number, they could just use the web browser on their phone to interact with the Polling Everywhere app via the WEB interface. I’m not sure why this hadn’t occurred to us before, but it does indeed seem that by doing this, the company can’t capture any information about your cell phone at all. So we edited the item (from last week) immediately and we’re issuing this correction to say, actually, Polling Everywhere seems like a great idea. (But we would agree with the CEO that maybe the web page is a safer and more secure way of interacting, rather than texting with the service.) Learn more about Polling Everywhere at…
https://www.polleverywhere.com/
And thanks to Jeff, the CEO of Polling Everywhere, and Rocky, the Wycliffe guy who knew Jeff and took up the cause. You both helped us learn and pass on what we learned more effectively! Thanks for participating in Brigada!
Thanks for listening. Concerns about privacy are absolutely justified, and as Jeff noted in his post, “this stuff is incredibly important, and it’s on everyone’s mind.”
Many thanks for making sure that your readers have accurate information about Poll Everywhere. And thanks specifically for allowing me to assure your readers that Poll Everywhere presenters (at least Wycliffe’s, anyway) are NOT well-meaning simpletons who don’t “Read the terms. Every time. Every paragraph. Take nothing for granted” and thereby “lured all those cell phone users to give up their personal information.”
Our goal in using the polling technology is exactly the same as your goal in using the technology that powers your website — i.e., we want to wisely use every available means to empower God’s people to participate in His mission. We really are in this together, and I deeply appreciate the opportunity you gave me to help you set the record straight on a good technology tool supported by a good company.
Blessings and peace,
Rocky