CivicID Use-Case

From Gateway to Gov

USE CASE – Advocacy Group

(Rough)

Lets say the Issue X Alliance, IXA for short, is a national advocacy group. IXA has setup a “Contact Your Congress Member” form letter and issued a call to action to their members. The default form letter is a well-written, articulate message that clearly describes the concerns and objectives of the group – and while members are prompted to customize the letter, most simply don’t have the time or attention available. They fill in their name and address and click send.

On the receiving end, emails begin pouring into the congress member’s office. Most of them are identical, other than the name, and the office has received mass quantities of bogus advocacy materials in the past… and are rightfully leery and many office don’t put much faith in their numbers.

But what if these are real constituents and not a malicious spammer?

Well, the problem isn’t so much the repetition. In fact, thats a good thing as it helps representatives staff properly sort and group incoming correspondence – the problem is that the source is unknown and since the messages are *identical* other than the name and address of the sender, and could easily have been spoofed.

This is where CivicID steps in - recipients of CivicID-signed petitions can verify the validity of the electronic communications they receive. This audit/verification mechanism ensures that everytime a constituent communicates with their elected representatives, that correspondence is held in the highest possible regard.

In the case of IXA, our model advocacy group, they would modify their existing Congressional Mailer by adding a “Sign with CivicID” button. When the user clicks this button, they are in turn directed to CivicID for authentication and authorization of the transaction. After approving the transaction, the user is redirected back to CivicID along with the digitally-signature provided by CivicID. The Congressional Mailer tools then finishes its process, sending the letter, along with the digital signature to the end recipient.