Politech mailing list archives
FC: Chicago officials try to shut down voteauction.com
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Fri, 06 Oct 2000 13:23:02 -0400
[The guys at voteauction.com were smart enough to move it offshore, so there's not a whole lot that the spoilsports in Chicago can do. They could, I suppose, try to get an injunction in federal court telling Network Solutions to delete the domain name from its registry database. (Anyone know if this has ever been tried successfully? I've often wondered why we haven't heard of this tactic.) Still, participants could just use the IP address or the voteauction.ai or whatnot address, so it may not be worth it. --Declan]
******* Background on voteauction.com and controversy over it: http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/09/29/0524228&mode=nested ******* http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2934217.html?tag=st.ne.1002.thed.ni Chicago tries to close vote Web site By The Associated Press October 4, 2000, 9:25 p.m. PT CHICAGO--Mindful of the city's history as a place where elections have been bought, Chicago officials are trying to shut down a Web site that offers votes to the highest bidder. The Board of Elections sent letters yesterday to federal and state prosecutors, saying that Voteauction.com should be shut down. "In Chicago we react strongly and quickly to this type of activity--whether it's tongue-in-cheek or not--because we need to guard our reputation here that this is a place where voting activity is legal and aboveboard and beyond reproach," board chairman Langdon Neal said. Voteauction provides "a forum for campaign contributors and voters to come together in a free market exchange," according to the site. Voteauction says it will collect absentee ballots from voters, verify them, and then sell them to the highest bidder, who can "choose who the group will vote for en masse." Sellers then receive money depending on how much is bid. [...] The U.S. attorneys' office has forwarded the board's letter to the Justice Department, and the state's attorney's office would only say it received the letter. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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- FC: Chicago officials try to shut down voteauction.com Declan McCullagh (Oct 06)