A couple of days ago, the Post had an article detailing the strategy shift that politicians are using to “reach out” to voters. Rather than the old, and very expensive, method of sending voters junk mail, politicians are now buying very detailed e-mail lists in order to spam registered voters in targeted ways. This trend should be of no surprise to anyone. When CAN SPAM passed last year, it only “banned” commercial e-mail. Apparently, political messages are so vital that spamming voters with them is ok.
Frankly, though I would prefer no spam at all, I’d much rather see some of the fairly creative pleas to visit online pharmacies or invitations to take advantage of financial opportunities in Nigeria than receive any more messages from any candidate about how everything is going to change for the better if I’ll just go cast my vote.
Hat tip: Tad DeHaven, NTU policy analyst
In other spam news, it appears that spammers are adopting sender authentication faster than everyone else.
Via techdirt
Also, see my earlier post about how the spam wars can spur technological innovation.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
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