The Trump 2020 app is drawing some criticism for how invasive it is, requesting access to the following: phone identity; Bluetooth pairing; read, write, or delete data; identity (find accounts on the device); calendar; USB storage; device ID and call information; broadcast data messages to apps; pair with Bluetooth devices; and change your audio settings.

In contrast, the Biden 2020 app doesn’t request access to any of those things. What the Biden 2020 app does request access to is receive data from internet; full network access; control vibration; run at startup; prevent device from sleeping; and view network connections. In case you are wondering, the Trump 2020 app requests access to those things as well. 

Naturally, this raises ethical questions about data privacy and whether or not political campaigns should be checked when it comes to how much data they request to collect. Obviously, no one is forced to download any app that they don’t want, but is that enough of an out for political campaigns to skate on? 

The Trump 2020 app is a voter surveillance tool of extraordinary powerAhead of President Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his 2020 re-election campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted about the event. "Just passed 800,000 tickets," he wrote. "Biggest data haul and rally signup of all time by 10x. Saturday is going to be amazing!" Parscale's numbers for the rally-originally scheduled for Juneteenth and still set to occur...www.technologyreview.com

Is how our politicians treat us, and our privacy, in their apps, a reflection of the respect and value they hold us in, perhaps?

Isn't character what we are, how we behave, when we think/know no one else can see us or ever will know of our actions?

On a side note, the new Safari that is coming in Big Sur this fall, will display who gets what data and where it goes for each website opened. Kind of a nice thought. Maybe apps should be required to display the same information.

Agreed. The more transparency the better.

Transparency is great, but some of the sites I've visited will not let you use the site unless you accept cookies. So the ability to refuse them is moot?

With the Trump app it goes well beyond accepting cookies. Hence the concerns.