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Doorstep Challenge
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Back at the Blogging the Election conference, an idea crept up on me of using YouTube and cheap video technology to bring the real Irish politician to light. The idea in essence is see if the people standing for election are as generically amenable as they often seem to portray themselves as being. After all, some of them are inclined to say one thing in the Dail and something directly opposite to their local supporters.
The practical aspect would involve people in a number of constituencies agreeing to put a webcam or some such in their hallway pointing at their door. And when the local politician comes beating the ground as part of the canvassing effort in the lead up to the election, you would progressive raise issues of ever increasing peculiarity and perhaps offensiveness to see if the politician nods agreement or actually calls you on it, say, denying the vote to the unemployed, that the state should rent out old people at Hallowe’en to scare children, or branding boy racers with pink shamrock tattoos on their foreheads. To be fair about it, people would have to ask all the local politicians the same things, and they shouldn’t edit the video just to make the person look bad for the sake of it.
It is all a little cruel I know, but it appeals to my inner demon. Anyone interested?
Hmmm…interesting project, but I’m not sure you’re allowed to video people without their consent on private property and then distribute it.
You could well be right, and it is something that would need to be nailed down legally speaking. I suppose naughty people might think if you were to disguise your property in the video…
I also suspect that posting the plan here probably doesn’t do much for its ‘undercover’ credentials. Unless, of course, no one’s reading!
Nope, you can’t record someone without their knowledge, and if you do you’d better not publish it anywhere (just like how evidence recieved from wiretaps is admissible in court)
I was considering recording my conversations with politicians at my door and posting them online, but chances are they’d just end up giving you the same dross once they knew it would be seen elsewhere.
I do wish I was in someone like McDowell’s constituency though, so I could finally pin him down on the Poolbeg incinerator issue… would he vote against it, or will he just be out that day, again?
I’ll keep an eye out to see if there’s any party policy that would negatively effect my area, to see if the candidate tows the party line or goes with the vote.
You could put a (small) sign on your lawn saying this property is monitored by security cameras – presumably that’s how shops can give camera footage to the press to track down armed robbers or whatever.
Didn’t mike murphy do this sort of thing for years?
As for the undercover aspect, well, it’s not like we’re going to be doing this everywhere, and with hundreds/thousands canvassed each day they might be caught on the hop.
After the live mike did the joke they would then ask for a permission to use it.
And Mike Murphy did it in public places, normally.
Well, let’s just say for the sake of argument that we can deal with the privacy issues somehow (not sure what McDowell’s privacy bubble will do to the idea anyway), would people be interested in the concept at least? The folks over at blogorrah seem positively charmed by it.
Actually could have a petition on each issue and after they agree with you on branding boy racers. Pull out the petition and ask them to sigh it.
I humbly suggest my CITIZEN’S MANIFESTO. See my website above and the following link within this blog:
http://www.irishelection.com/05/a-citizens-manifesto-for-the-doorstep-challenge/
The idea is we give them something to take home. They give us their leaflets and we give them ours.