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IowaReporterApp two days before the caucuses. A bug in the code of the app caused the app to fail at the time of the 2020 Iowa
Democratic caucuses. Gerardo Niemira, the CEO of Shadow Inc., which created the app, stated that technology used by Democrats in prior elections was a "shitshow" and "tangled morass".
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paid Shadow Inc. $ 63,183 to develop the IowaReporterApp. Before the 2020 Iowa caucus, the app and its developer were kept secret from the public by the
Democratic Party, although it was made public that there would be an app used for the caucus. The company published a new build (Version 1.1) of the
270:
Lightrail moves information between different data sources for campaign messaging and data integration purposes. It is the company's flagship product. Acronym announced in
November 2019 that Lightrail has been made available to all state parties and national candidates, under a trial contract with
318:
Several security and app experts have criticized the amateurish nature of the app. App-development expert, Kasra
Rahjerdi, said, "the app was clearly done by someone following a tutorial. It’s similar to projects I do with my mentees who are learning how to code." A team of researchers at
214:
In May 2019, Gerard
Niemira, CEO and CTO of Acronym, became the CEO of Shadow when it was renamed upon the purchase of the "nearly bankrupt company" Groundbase by Acronym. Niemira was formerly a product manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, worked at
237:
Krista Davis, CTO and Chief
Architect, was previously a software engineer for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. She also worked at Google for eight years. The current CEO is Irene Tollinger, following Niemira stepping down from his position.
205:
The company is registered in
Colorado, lists its Denver office as its location, and says it has further offices in New York and Seattle. Shadow and its parent company Acronym shared addresses in Denver, Colorado, and Washington, DC.
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state
Democratic parties also contracted Shadow Inc. for undisclosed services. Shadow Inc. has worked closely with Democratic Party-affiliated companies, including Lockwood Strategy and FWIW Media.
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The app was reviewed by the
Democratic National Committee in advance. David Bergstein said on behalf of the DNC that it was confident that security was being taken "extremely seriously."
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Shadow came under scrutiny for its lack of maturity and the means it used to distribute the IowaReporterApp to users. Shadow required iOS device users to use Apple's behind-the-scenes
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of the app. It also solicited the opinions of various cybersecurity experts. Dan Guido, the head of Trail of Bits, described the app as "hastily thrown together."
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Shadow Inc. was then incorporated in
Colorado in September 2019. Acronym CEO McGowan said in late January 2020 that Acronym is the sole investor in Shadow.
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183:, a liberal-leaning political nonprofit organization for which Niemira was also the COO and CTO. Shadow is a for-profit company. Acronym's CEO,
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The Nevada Democratic Party paid Shadow $ 58,000 for its caucus reporting app, though it announced it would no longer use it, and instead used
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The company, originally named Groundbase, was launched in December 2016 by Gerard Niemira, and Krista Davis, who both worked on the
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commissioned a security audit of the app. It was determined to be "insecure," so an external entity could have hacked it.
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James "Jimmy" Hickey, COO, was an engineering manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and previously was part of
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downloaded the app to two Android devices, but it only opened on one of them. The next day, the site published an
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327:, said that while analyzing the app, they found potentially concerning code within it, including hard-coded
713:"The Democratic Party's most hated startup can't change what happened in Iowa. But it can change its name"
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1081:"The CEO of the failed Iowa-caucus voting app complained that campaign tech was a 's---show' a year ago"
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the Democratic National Committee. Party insiders have described it as "common in Democratic politics."
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583:"Shadow Inc., which built the Iowa caucus app, received money from Buttigieg and Biden campaigns"
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782:"New Details Show How Deeply Iowa Caucus App Developer Was Embedded in Democratic Establishment"
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designed to register, organize, and mobilize liberal voters. The suite was formerly known as
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Rosenberg, Matthew; Corasaniti, Nick; Frenkel, Sheera; Perlroth, Nicole (February 4, 2020).
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525:"Tech firm started by Clinton campaign veterans is linked to Iowa caucus reporting debacle"
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1224:"Iowa Caucus App Has Security Flaws, Hackers Could Change Passwords, Vote Tallies: Report"
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Shadow Inc's parent company Acronym has received large donations from hedge fund managers
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paid $ 42,500 to the company in July 2019 for "software rights and subscriptions" for a
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156:. The company gained attention after their IowaReporterApp software failed during the
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83:
1140:"Motherboard just published the terrible app that caused chaos at the Iowa caucuses"
930:""Robust," "scalable" not words that apply to Iowa Dem Caucus app [Updated]"
1437:"Here's What We Know About the Political Tech Company Behind the Iowa Caucus Snafu"
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839:"Meet the people behind Shadow Inc., the tech company that botched the Iowa caucus"
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1114:"The app that broke the Iowa Caucuses was sent out through beta testing platforms"
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1299:"An 'Off-the-Shelf, Skeleton Project': Experts Analyze the App That Broke Iowa"
1168:"An 'Off-the-Shelf, Skeleton Project': Experts Analyze the App That Broke Iowa"
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870:"App made by Clinton campaign veterans' firm is behind Iowa caucuses debacle"
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982:"Despite Election Security Fears, Iowa Caucuses Will Use New Smartphone App"
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682:"Inside Acronym, the Tech Consultancy Behind the Disastrous Iowa-Caucus App"
368:
17:
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1377:"Nevada Democrats to use iPads loaded with Google Forms to track caucus"
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paid the company $ 1,225, also for a text-messaging service, while the
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1196:"The Iowa Caucuses App Had Another Problem: It Could Have Been Hacked"
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paid $ 37,400 to the company for software and fundraising consulting.
1271:"Turns out that busted Iowa Caucuses app was also extremely hackable"
956:"Faulty Iowa App Was Part of Push to Restore Democrats' Digital Edge"
808:"Faulty Iowa App Was Part of Push to Restore Democrats' Digital Edge"
656:"The Company That Botched the Iowa Caucus Was Formed Only Months Ago"
609:"Progressive non-profit ACRONYM to invest $ 1M in local media effort"
554:"Chaos in Iowa shines spotlight on progressive tech start-up Shadow"
460:
Glazer, Emily; Seetharaman, Deepa; Corse, Alexa (February 6, 2020).
1053:"Company behind troubled app used in Iowa caucuses breaks silence"
352:
1034:"'We Feel Really Terrible' Says CEO Whose App Roiled Iowa Caucus"
1381:
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Jason Koebler; Joseph Cox; Emanuel Maiberg (February 5, 2020).
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Jason Koebler; Joseph Cox; Emanuel Maiberg (February 5, 2020).
741:"Tech company that works in Denver tied to Iowa caucus debacle"
1408:"Investors Rush to Scrub Ties to Firm Behind Iowa Clusterf*ck"
384:
462:"The Shoestring App Developer Behind the Iowa Caucus Debacle"
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presidential campaigns all made payments to the company. The
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Shadow Inc. developed software for the campaigns of numerous
246:
Shadow Inc. developed software for the campaigns of numerous
1351:"Nevada Democrats won't use same app that caused Iowa havoc"
898:"Maker of glitchy Iowa caucus app has Democratic Party ties"
1008:"Here's the Shadow Inc. App That Failed in Iowa Last Night"
488:"Gerard Niemira, Shadow CEO: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know"
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187:, described Shadow as "a political technology company".
148:, operated by Shadow Inc., before the latter sold it to
126:
1324:"How I'd Load Test the Iowa Caucus App - The New Stack"
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Michael Bieseker; Brian Slodysko (February 4, 2020).
1252:"Iowa caucus app sparks election security concerns"
1006:Jason Koebler; Emanuel Maiberg (February 4, 2020).
868:Jeff Bercovici; Suhana Hussain (February 4, 2020).
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1032:Joshua Green, Eric Newcomer (February 5, 2020).
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1194:Jack Gilum; Jessica Husman (February 5, 2020).
1406:Lachlan Markay; Sam Stein (February 4, 2020).
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219:, and worked as an intern for Representative
179:In January 2019, the company was acquired by
8:
980:Kate Payne, Miles Parks (January 14, 2020).
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581:Ye Hee Lee, Michelle (February 4, 2020).
1498:2020 United States presidential election
654:Madrigal, Alexis C. (February 4, 2020).
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954:Rosenberg, Matthew (February 4, 2020).
634:"Statement of Foreign Entity Authority"
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105:Krista Davis (CTO and Chief Architect)
1349:Matishak, Martin (February 4, 2020).
1093:from the original on February 5, 2020
754:from the original on February 6, 2020
7:
928:Gallagher, Sean (February 4, 2020).
711:Theodore Schleifer (July 14, 2020).
680:Marantz, Andrew (February 6, 2020).
523:Bercovici, Jeff (February 4, 2020).
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1079:Pietsch, Bryan (February 5, 2020).
837:Karlis, Nicole (February 5, 2020).
739:Marc Sallinger (February 5, 2020).
359:Campaign and corporate affiliations
1375:Steven Musil (February 13, 2020).
1051:Melissa Quinn (February 4, 2020).
552:Bradshaw, Tim (February 4, 2020).
486:Farrell, Paul (February 4, 2020).
25:
1435:Nover, Scott (February 4, 2020).
1250:Popken, Ben (January 24, 2020).
1222:Aila Slisco (February 5, 2020).
1112:Statt, Nick (February 4, 2020).
1269:Jack Morse (February 4, 2020).
1138:Nick Statt (February 5, 2020).
260:2020 Nevada Democratic caucuses
152:, who in turn sold BlueLink to
780:Fang, Lee (February 4, 2020).
1:
607:Sara Fischer (July 9, 2019).
256:2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses
193:In May 2020, Shadow Inc. was
158:2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses
638:Colorado Secretary of State
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331:. The app was written in
34:
232:Bloomberg Philanthropies
337:Google Cloud Functions
417:, venture capitalist
365:Democratic candidates
281:Iowa Democratic Party
252:software applications
248:Democratic candidates
99:Irene Tollinger (CEO)
1475:(now redirecting to
385:text-message service
1330:. February 11, 2020
587:The Washington Post
393:Gillibrand campaign
321:Stanford University
139:campaign management
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1503:Political software
813:The New York Times
423:Jeffrey Katzenberg
381:Buttigieg campaign
377:Kirsten Gillibrand
250:as well as mobile
102:James Hickey (COO)
1493:Internet activism
875:Los Angeles Times
529:Los Angeles Times
343:Nevada caucus app
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154:Civitech PBC
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145:
134:
133:
127:bluelink.org
118:Civitech PBC
79:Headquarters
71:Krista Davis
26:
1446:February 4,
1417:February 4,
1360:February 4,
1308:February 6,
1303:Motherboard
1282:February 7,
1235:February 7,
1207:February 7,
1173:Motherboard
1151:February 6,
1123:February 5,
1097:February 5,
1064:February 4,
1017:February 4,
991:February 5,
939:February 5,
913:February 4,
881:February 7,
850:February 5,
819:February 7,
791:February 4,
758:February 6,
693:February 7,
665:February 5,
618:February 7,
592:February 4,
563:February 4,
534:February 4,
497:February 4,
471:February 7,
325:Alex Stamos
298:Motherboard
221:Eliot Engel
142:mobile apps
47:Shadow Inc.
18:Shadow Inc.
1487:Categories
1201:ProPublica
433:References
310:ProPublica
293:TestFlight
210:Management
92:Key people
49:Groundbase
1145:The Verge
1118:The Verge
1038:Bloomberg
746:KUSA (TV)
492:Heavy.com
404:Wisconsin
369:Joe Biden
266:Lightrail
223:in 2005.
201:Locations
172:team for
1355:Politico
1276:Mashable
1256:NBC News
1229:Newsweek
1091:Archived
1058:CBS News
965:April 7,
752:Archived
724:July 14,
329:API keys
254:for the
242:Products
228:Sprinklr
217:kiva.org
135:BlueLink
62:Founders
44:Formerly
30:BlueLink
986:NPR.org
195:renamed
181:Acronym
164:History
150:Acronym
123:Website
54:Founded
1441:Adweek
387:. The
367:. The
146:Shadow
114:Parent
844:Salon
613:Axios
400:Texas
353:iPads
1448:2020
1419:2020
1390:2020
1382:CNET
1362:2020
1336:2020
1310:2020
1284:2020
1237:2020
1209:2020
1181:2020
1153:2020
1125:2020
1099:2020
1066:2020
1019:2020
1012:Vice
993:2020
967:2020
941:2020
915:2020
883:2020
852:2020
821:2020
793:2020
760:2020
726:2020
695:2020
667:2020
620:2020
594:2020
565:2020
536:2020
499:2020
473:2020
425:and
413:and
402:and
398:The
375:and
279:The
258:and
230:and
718:Vox
466:WSJ
351:on
303:APK
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