Posts tagged consent.
A texting list is a database of voters' phone numbers and consent, and it deserves real protection. Here's why data security matters for a texting program, the risks of a breach, and the basic safeguards every campaign should have.
Hiring a texting vendor doesn't outsource the legal risk, campaigns can be held liable for a vendor's TCPA violations. Here's how vicarious liability works, why "the vendor did it" isn't a defense, and how to protect yourself.
A contact is a phone number you have; a subscriber is someone who opted in to your texts. Confusing the two is how campaigns end up texting people who never agreed. Here's the distinction and why it matters.
An opt-in isn't a blanket permission slip. The carrier standard expects consent for each messaging program, and treating one opt-in as a pass for everything is how campaigns get flagged.
501(c)(3) nonprofits can text about civic engagement but not electoral advocacy. Here's what (c)(3)s can and can't do with texting, how nonpartisan voter outreach works, and why the line matters.
Prior express written consent is the strict consent standard for commercial marketing texts, and the one political campaigns are exempt from. Here's what PEWC is, how it differs from ordinary consent, and why the exemption matters.
A voter can revoke texting consent at any time, and by any reasonable method, not just by texting STOP. Here's how revocation works, why campaigns must honor it however it comes, and what that means in practice.
In a TCPA dispute, it's generally the sender who has to prove consent, not the plaintiff who has to disprove it. Here's why the burden falls on the campaign, and why that makes your records the whole ballgame.
The TCPA's strictest protections center on cell phones, which is where nearly all political texts land. Here's why the type of number matters, and why in practice campaigns should treat every number as a protected cell phone.
Phone append is buying phone numbers to attach to a voter file. It gives you numbers, not permission. Here's what phone append is, why campaigns use it, and why it's not a shortcut to a textable list.
An opt-in landing page is where a voter lands to subscribe to your texts, from a QR code, ad, or link. Here's what it is, what a good one includes, and why it's central to growing a clean, consented list.
Most campaigns worry about the TCPA and forget the rulebook that decides whether their texts deliver at all. The CTIA Messaging Principles are the standard carriers enforce, here's what they require.