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IP: Campaign spam is OK?
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 16:50:10 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Ari Ollikainen <Ari () OLTECO com> Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 13:30:43 -0800 To: farber () cis upenn edu Subject: Campaign spam is OK? Bill Jones, Republican gubernatorial candidate's campaign apparently sent a million political e-mail messages as part of his campaign the other day, resulting in his web site being shut down. And the campaign spokesman doesn't see anything wrong with using mass email...saying that it's " ...an innovative way of direct voter contact." I a bit aghast that "... mass political e-mail messages do not violate anti-spamming laws in this country..." Why is such email from a single source NOT considered SPAM? Apparently the candidate's service provider, Atlantech.net, thought the mass emailing constituted SPAM... URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/03/02/MN34023.DTL [...] Word to the Wise, an anti-spamming consulting firm in Redwood City, tracked the Jones e-mails and said last night that they were routed apparently without permission through a server in South Korea. Although the mass political e-mail messages do not violate anti-spamming laws in this country, Steve Atkins, chief technical officer for Word to the Wise, said the use of the South Korean server may have violated laws in that country. The high-tech dustup began Wednesday, when Jones' campaign sent out about 1 million e-mails. Most went to California addresses, but some ended up as far away as Canada, England and France. Jones spokesman Darrel Ng denied the campaign staff had knowingly done anything wrong and defended the use of e-mails. He acknowledged receiving a couple of dozen complaints. Ng said the campaign hired a Southern California firm called Strevenue to distribute the e-mails. Ng said it was his understanding that the company relied on legitimate means to get the e-mails out. He apologized for any errant e-mail messages sent to non-California residents and said the campaign would not condone any unauthorized use of foreign servers. "We see this as an innovative way of direct voter contact," said Ng. The Jones campaign previously sent out mass e-mails in January and December. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ You can't depend on your judgement when your imagination is out of focus. -- Mark Twain. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ OLTECO Ari Ollikainen P.O. BOX 20088 Networking Architecture and Technology Stanford, CA Ari () OLTECO com 94309-0088 415.517.3519 ------ End of Forwarded Message For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- IP: Campaign spam is OK? Dave Farber (Mar 02)