Trust and privacy: the core of Dome’s identity

As a new social networking platform, we are entering a market increasingly defined by eroding trust and skepticism over who is collecting personal data and for what purpose. We see this paradigm as an opportunity to prove there’s a better way — doing more with less is a marker of strength and not a self-imposed handicap.

Congressional staffers are no strangers to transparency and public disclosure. After all, their congressional employment history and salaries are public data, as mandated by federal law.

While this disclosure serves its basic democratic function, it also serves to enhance the targeting power of anyone with staffers in their crosshairs. In this current paradigm, public employment data is used to mine even more data on staffers from the web — publishing of personal social media profiles is only the tip of that iceberg.

A new “opt-in" paradigm

As a staffer, when you find your profile on Dome, what you see is what you get.

What’s there: 

Your congressional employment record: The “who,” “what,” and “when.” That’s all.

Your issue portfolio, if you have one: Sourced by our data partner, KnowWho. You may have heard of KnowWho if you have extensive phone answering experience. They gather staffer data the old fashioned way — by calling or visiting Hill offices and simply asking staffers “who” is working on “what.” 

What’s not there:

Your education history: We don’t scrape LinkedIn for your data. We believe you stand to benefit greatly by sharing your education history on Dome — we also believe it is only your choice to do so.

Your photo: Even if you once made The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful list, we’re still not interested in scraping the internet for your photo. Only you define your first impression on Dome.

Your salary: Again, not interested. There are other sites for that…

Your Twitter handle: See above. You probably get the point now.

Social logins: verified Dome accounts only. We’ll never allow other social networking services to access our network.

Identities of users who view your profile: We love anonymity. Browse the staff directory and view profiles with complete privacy — always.

Dome puts you, the user, in control

Our founding team has placed our bet on full user control. We want you to see your un-claimed Dome profile as a blank canvas — one in which you can own, and in turn, control the first impression you give to those who find you on Dome.