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The root cause of the Iowa fiasco is a nonprofit corporation called ACRONYM, which owns the technology company Shadow, Inc. It's not at all clear to me that th

The root cause of the Iowa fiasco is a nonprofit corporation called ACRONYM, which owns the technology company Shadow, Inc. It's not at all clear to me that this is the case. I mean, sure, there are obviously big problems with the app's design and implementation. But there are ample signs of deeper problems with the customer (and indeed, TFA alludes to some of it). The fact that the Party insisted on keeping specifics about the app secret until the last minute was the first big red flag to me. With the customer making such a demand about a product that's intended to be widely distributed with zero ramp-up time, they had at least two strikes against them from the start. Further mess-ups outside the app development, like using the same phone lines for support and for reporting, are mistakes that don't obviously fall on the shoulders of the developer. The customer - the Iowa Democratic Party - probably needs to bear at least part of the blame for this. It's true that an experienced developer might have given their customer better guidance, but that doesn't absolve the Party from these mistakes.

claudeganon 7y ago
I’m not sure we can even distinguish the entities involved in this case. The head of the Iowa Democratic Party was partying with the ACRONYM’s CEO just before the election. She is married to a Buttigeig staffer. Her husband’s brother is comms director for Buttigeig and was tweeting out log in PINs during the election. And of course the whole ACRONYM operation is wrapped up with Democratic Party dark money. https://mobile.twitter.com/taraemcg/status/1223990978127724546 https://mobile.twitter.com/taraemcg/status/12239909781277245... https://mobile.twitter.com/bhalle87/status/1224558925946793985 https://mobile.twitter.com/bhalle87/status/12245589259467939... https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-dem-dark-money-group-is-invading-the-news https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-dem-dark-money-group-is-...
- matchbok 7y ago
  Yep, the DNC planned a whole conspiracy for.... Iowa.
  - sixQuarks 7y ago
    You’re naive if you think they WONT try to screw Bernie again
    - ianai 7y ago
      Big claims require big evidence. It’s dangerous to embrace the worst case scenario like corruption with open arms and requiring little evidence. People are doing it all the time now and it’s how the trolls win.
      - buzzkillington 7y ago
        Surely we can blame Russia for this, since there's no evidence that just means the Russians have been extra careful with the hacking.
      - sixQuarks 7y ago
        umm, it's pretty obvious if you dig into it just a little bit, and don't just rely on mainstream news. start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_National_Committee_email_leak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_National_Commi...
    - Spooky23 7y ago
      Huh? Sanders did really well. If there's a conspiracy, it's not a particularly effective one.
      - ianai 7y ago
        And that’s an example of misleading representations fueling FUD in this discussion. Edit-what you pointed out is the misrepresentation, I mean.
      - sixQuarks 7y ago
        Look at how they are making it look like Pete is the winner so far. This is what stays in people's minds. Later we will find out Bernie won, but the effect won't be as strong. It's like when a newspaper makes a correction, most people don't see it.
- sixQuarks 7y ago
  Also, why did Buttigeg donate $42k to shadow inc? This should be illegal
  - 1stcity3rdcoast 7y ago
    All the candidates donated, not just Buttigieg. It was a joint venture between all of the primary candidates in Iowa.
    - claudeganon 7y ago
      This isn’t true. The Sanders campaign never gave anything to Shadow or ACRONYM. From the reporting I’ve seen, Buttigeig was the largest purchaser of their services, with Biden as a distant second. https://www.wsj.com/articles/iowa-caucus-results-delayed-by-apparent-app-issue-11580801699 https://www.wsj.com/articles/iowa-caucus-results-delayed-by-... EDIT: Since this is apparently a “controversial” statement, here is the FEC data proving this is entirely true: https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&recipient_name=Shadow+Inc&two_year_transaction_period=2020 https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&...
      - dqv 7y ago
        Thanks for this. We're flagged off now so no one can see it unfortunately.
      - mzs 7y ago
        I mean, who knows, you have to be a lot more sophisticated to grok the FEC db, for example here's over a half million to AmEx from the Bernie camp, for what? https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201912199166621206 https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201912199166621206 Here's almost half a million to consultants from a big group of donors. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201904159146174550 https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201904159146174550 There's just so many payments and transfers to/from Senate and Presidential campaign and big donors that just go opaque as without knowing what the recipient really did with that money for every candidate that takes donations, this is a very hard problem to answer without a serious investigation by a team of journalists and lawyers.
SilasX 7y ago
It’s really jarring that the orgs are called ACRONYM and Shadow. I thought those were just ironic filler names to mock the real, undisclosed orgs. But from the article and tweets, it seems real. Still feels like a parody of some sort. Let me know if I’m not getting it.
- logosmonkey 7y ago
  No, I had the same exact thought. They are basically Bond villain org names. I don't think there was some grand conspiracy here, far more likely a grand failure of tech as a fix for perceived organizational problems as seen in any number of corporations.
- aakilfernandes 7y ago
  In politics, there's a huge incentive for insiders to appear to be a kingmaker. Names like Shadow and ACRONYM play into that stereotype of a behind the scenes puppet master, that politicians will pay big dollars to get them / keep them in power. At a larger level, it makes understanding whats happening really difficult. Its hard to tell who is actually corrupt and who is "peacocking" corruption.
  - thfuran 7y ago
    I'm not a politician but I'd have thought that if I were, I'd rather pay to avoid publicly being associated with Shadow Inc.
  - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
    So you think it’s coincidence these orgs are made of former high level Clinton campaign staffers?
    - dariusj18 7y ago
      Not a coincidence, an inevitability. Bill and Hillary Clinton have been in politics for many years, Bill Clinton was President for 8 years and Hillary ran for President twice. Anyone who is anyone in the Democratic party would want to work for them at some point.
notyourday 7y ago
It was a total lack of understanding of a product/market fit. Election volunteers are in a demographic that is targeted by the likes of Consumer Cellular ( data? we dont need that. We just want to call our friends once a month) , GranPad (a tablet with a VERY BIG button - tap here to make a video call to your family ) and AARP. Someone needs to be out to lunch to think they would download an app, authenticate to it and be able to submit election results using it even with multi month of training.
dqv 7y ago
The whole thing is a red flag. McGowan's ties to the Buttigieg campaign[0] are a clear conflict of interest. Whether or not there was malicious intent, there was no disclosure ahead of time. Now we get the conspiracy theories. And I can't really blame people for theorizing conspiracy. The IDP and DNC should've vetted this company in advance and declined due to the conflict of interest. Let's not forget that they were told not to go ahead with using this app (albeit for other reasons than the ties to the Buttigieg campaign)[1]. [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/04/us/politics/ap-us-election-2020-app.html https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/04/us/politics/ap-u... McGowan, 34, is married to Michael Halle, a senior strategist for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign [1]: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/795906732/despite-election-security-fears-iowa-caucuses-will-use-new-smartphone-app https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/795906732/despite-election-se...
- tptacek 7y ago
  The DNC does not run the Iowa Democratic Caucus.
  - dqv 7y ago
    You're right I'm editing my comment to clarify the IDP and DNC
    - tptacek 7y ago
      Thankfully, this story has been flagged off the front page, so there's probably no further need to litigate it.
      - salawat 7y ago
        Hey, not everyone is thwarted by the dreaded front page. I generally look about 3 to 5 pages in because some of the more interesting discussions tend to end up getting flagged in one way or another.
        7y ago
_jal 7y ago
> The customer - the Iowa Democratic Party - probably needs to bear at least part of the blame for this. They bear most of the fault. The event they run is an every-4-year organizational nightmare run almost entirely by volunteers. It is akin to running a bunch of small conferences in synchrony, which is not something people really normally do. It is entirely possible to get it right - it isn't super difficult, just a lot of work. But changing the rules, inserting the (bad) app, changing the phone numbers involved in the backup plan shortly beforehand... this process was doomed before they started. I'm not defending the app - I really really don't think they should be heading down this path - but the app failure was as much shoddy planning and training was it was about the app. (And I do hope this kills the caucus - far past time for it to go.)

claudeganon 7y ago

I’m not sure we can even distinguish the entities involved in this case. The head of the Iowa Democratic Party was partying with the ACRONYM’s CEO just before the election. She is married to a Buttigeig staffer. Her husband’s brother is comms director for Buttigeig and was tweeting out log in PINs during the election. And of course the whole ACRONYM operation is wrapped up with Democratic Party dark money. https://mobile.twitter.com/taraemcg/status/1223990978127724546 https://mobile.twitter.com/taraemcg/status/12239909781277245... https://mobile.twitter.com/bhalle87/status/1224558925946793985 https://mobile.twitter.com/bhalle87/status/12245589259467939... https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-dem-dark-money-group-is-invading-the-news https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-dem-dark-money-group-is-...

matchbok 7y ago
Yep, the DNC planned a whole conspiracy for.... Iowa.
- sixQuarks 7y ago
  You’re naive if you think they WONT try to screw Bernie again
  - ianai 7y ago
    Big claims require big evidence. It’s dangerous to embrace the worst case scenario like corruption with open arms and requiring little evidence. People are doing it all the time now and it’s how the trolls win.
    - buzzkillington 7y ago
      Surely we can blame Russia for this, since there's no evidence that just means the Russians have been extra careful with the hacking.
    - sixQuarks 7y ago
      umm, it's pretty obvious if you dig into it just a little bit, and don't just rely on mainstream news. start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_National_Committee_email_leak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_National_Commi...
  - Spooky23 7y ago
    Huh? Sanders did really well. If there's a conspiracy, it's not a particularly effective one.
    - ianai 7y ago
      And that’s an example of misleading representations fueling FUD in this discussion. Edit-what you pointed out is the misrepresentation, I mean.
    - sixQuarks 7y ago
      Look at how they are making it look like Pete is the winner so far. This is what stays in people's minds. Later we will find out Bernie won, but the effect won't be as strong. It's like when a newspaper makes a correction, most people don't see it.
sixQuarks 7y ago
Also, why did Buttigeg donate $42k to shadow inc? This should be illegal
- 1stcity3rdcoast 7y ago
  All the candidates donated, not just Buttigieg. It was a joint venture between all of the primary candidates in Iowa.
  - claudeganon 7y ago
    This isn’t true. The Sanders campaign never gave anything to Shadow or ACRONYM. From the reporting I’ve seen, Buttigeig was the largest purchaser of their services, with Biden as a distant second. https://www.wsj.com/articles/iowa-caucus-results-delayed-by-apparent-app-issue-11580801699 https://www.wsj.com/articles/iowa-caucus-results-delayed-by-... EDIT: Since this is apparently a “controversial” statement, here is the FEC data proving this is entirely true: https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&recipient_name=Shadow+Inc&two_year_transaction_period=2020 https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&...
    - dqv 7y ago
      Thanks for this. We're flagged off now so no one can see it unfortunately.
    - mzs 7y ago
      I mean, who knows, you have to be a lot more sophisticated to grok the FEC db, for example here's over a half million to AmEx from the Bernie camp, for what? https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201912199166621206 https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201912199166621206 Here's almost half a million to consultants from a big group of donors. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201904159146174550 https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201904159146174550 There's just so many payments and transfers to/from Senate and Presidential campaign and big donors that just go opaque as without knowing what the recipient really did with that money for every candidate that takes donations, this is a very hard problem to answer without a serious investigation by a team of journalists and lawyers.

SilasX 7y ago

It’s really jarring that the orgs are called ACRONYM and Shadow. I thought those were just ironic filler names to mock the real, undisclosed orgs. But from the article and tweets, it seems real. Still feels like a parody of some sort. Let me know if I’m not getting it.

logosmonkey 7y ago
No, I had the same exact thought. They are basically Bond villain org names. I don't think there was some grand conspiracy here, far more likely a grand failure of tech as a fix for perceived organizational problems as seen in any number of corporations.
aakilfernandes 7y ago
In politics, there's a huge incentive for insiders to appear to be a kingmaker. Names like Shadow and ACRONYM play into that stereotype of a behind the scenes puppet master, that politicians will pay big dollars to get them / keep them in power. At a larger level, it makes understanding whats happening really difficult. Its hard to tell who is actually corrupt and who is "peacocking" corruption.
- thfuran 7y ago
  I'm not a politician but I'd have thought that if I were, I'd rather pay to avoid publicly being associated with Shadow Inc.
- SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
  So you think it’s coincidence these orgs are made of former high level Clinton campaign staffers?
  - dariusj18 7y ago
    Not a coincidence, an inevitability. Bill and Hillary Clinton have been in politics for many years, Bill Clinton was President for 8 years and Hillary ran for President twice. Anyone who is anyone in the Democratic party would want to work for them at some point.

notyourday 7y ago

It was a total lack of understanding of a product/market fit. Election volunteers are in a demographic that is targeted by the likes of Consumer Cellular ( data? we dont need that. We just want to call our friends once a month) , GranPad (a tablet with a VERY BIG button - tap here to make a video call to your family ) and AARP. Someone needs to be out to lunch to think they would download an app, authenticate to it and be able to submit election results using it even with multi month of training.

dqv 7y ago

The whole thing is a red flag. McGowan's ties to the Buttigieg campaign[0] are a clear conflict of interest. Whether or not there was malicious intent, there was no disclosure ahead of time. Now we get the conspiracy theories. And I can't really blame people for theorizing conspiracy. The IDP and DNC should've vetted this company in advance and declined due to the conflict of interest. Let's not forget that they were told not to go ahead with using this app (albeit for other reasons than the ties to the Buttigieg campaign)[1]. [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/04/us/politics/ap-us-election-2020-app.html https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/04/us/politics/ap-u... McGowan, 34, is married to Michael Halle, a senior strategist for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign [1]: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/795906732/despite-election-security-fears-iowa-caucuses-will-use-new-smartphone-app https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/795906732/despite-election-se...

tptacek 7y ago
The DNC does not run the Iowa Democratic Caucus.
- dqv 7y ago
  You're right I'm editing my comment to clarify the IDP and DNC
  - tptacek 7y ago
    Thankfully, this story has been flagged off the front page, so there's probably no further need to litigate it.
    - salawat 7y ago
      Hey, not everyone is thwarted by the dreaded front page. I generally look about 3 to 5 pages in because some of the more interesting discussions tend to end up getting flagged in one way or another.
      - 7y ago

_jal 7y ago

> The customer - the Iowa Democratic Party - probably needs to bear at least part of the blame for this. They bear most of the fault. The event they run is an every-4-year organizational nightmare run almost entirely by volunteers. It is akin to running a bunch of small conferences in synchrony, which is not something people really normally do. It is entirely possible to get it right - it isn't super difficult, just a lot of work. But changing the rules, inserting the (bad) app, changing the phone numbers involved in the backup plan shortly beforehand... this process was doomed before they started. I'm not defending the app - I really really don't think they should be heading down this path - but the app failure was as much shoddy planning and training was it was about the app. (And I do hope this kills the caucus - far past time for it to go.)