Spam from political groups-coming next?

[hard candy]

Kim Komando (http://www.komando.com/index.asp) certainly has to be one of the prettiest computer "experts" I have listened to on the radio. Also she has the following:
"I have Mozilla running on a Dell OptiPlex GXPro, a 200Mhz PentiumPro with 64MB of RAM and dual boots with either Windows or Slackware Linux 9.1, and on a Compaq Deskpro EP C266, a 266Mhz Celeron machine with 64MB of RAM and Slackware Linux 9.1."

A pretty blonde using Slackware, I was an instant fan boy. "America's Digital Goddess" Unfortunately, I think she is married. :(

The radio show is mainly questions from Windows users.

Well, the thing is I was listening to her show last night and she was talking about some political groups in Germany have started using spam to spread their beliefs. So can Republican and Democrat spam be far behind?

[GigaShadow]

Actually, with the passing of the CanSpam Act the politicians reserved for themselves the "right" to send unsolicited emails espousing their views. It was an interesting part of the Act in that the politicians took great pains to ensure that "their" junk email was not "technically" considered SPAM and was thus not covered by the law. Oh well, ya get what ya "Pay For"!! :rolleyes:



G :D

[XavierP]

The Italian pm Berlusconi has spammed mobile users via SMS - including people who can't vote, like children.



Since it is in their interests, I can readily see politicians spamming us all. Especially since voter turnout is at an all time low - this will allow them to say that they are doing it for a good cause.

And let's not forget, if they are found guilty of breaking anti-spam laws, they'll just change the law. Brandies for all lawmakers!! :)

[Pvt. Kernel]

Actually, they've already done it in the US. The uproar was loud enough that they backed off immediately.

[IsaacKuo]

Sooner than later some brilliant scumbuckets will figure out to spam us with reverse psychology--pretending to be advertising for their opponents.

[Parcival]

Originally posted by hard candy
Well, the thing is I was listening to her show last night and she was talking about some political groups in Germany have started using spam to spread their beliefs.

Well, as spamming itself is pretty bad already, this case is even worse: the incident we're talking about here is not just about some political groups; it's about skinheads, Nazis, right-extremist trash.

Germany is having tough laws on spreading racist and Nazi ideology, so the big problem for that sort of group is to be heard at all. One thing they do is moving their websites onto US servers because the US freedom of speech allows them to speak out their attitudes. However, using this strategy they hardly get an audience as one would have to actively look for that sort of content in the web.
Now what they did to get a broader audience was to use Windows systems infected by some virus as relay stations to send the spam mails out to the targeted mailboxes. I think they hardly had any effect, though, because this action just provoked a mass-feeling of disgust. However, it also is another example for how shady elements of our society are working together with spammers and virus writers.

IMHO, any call to violence in the internet, wether be it right- or left-extremist or whatever extremist there possibly is, should be seriously prosecuted and the content removed. Alas, as long there are no international standards on this issue those individuals will have an easy time spreading their pest.


The Italian pm Berlusconi has spammed mobile users via SMS - including people who can't vote, like children.

Berlusconi did worse things than spamming people through SMS, for which he should be in jail and not prime minister. Just another proof of how shady characters use modern technology to spread their pest. :rolleyes: