Posted on 03/02/2002 6:55:54 AM PST by TheAngryClam
Edited on 04/13/2004 3:29:13 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Republican Bill Jones' foundering campaign for governor suffered another blow Friday when his Web site was yanked offline after he sent thousands of unwanted ``spam'' e-mail messages to people as far away as Canada.
Jones, who has been widely praised for his use of the Internet as secretary of state, turned to the unpopular tactic in an attempt to reach a million voters.
(Excerpt) Read more at bayarea.com ...
Simon is a conservative with warmth, compassion, and an appealing personality. Abrasive conservatism is a certain loser in California, given the demographics, but I think Simon is a potential winner if Bush joins Giuliani and friends and backs him enthusiastically.
Spam can be annoying, but isn't this guy overreacting? Was it just a regular email?
From: Jones4gov@mailbomb.ru
To: brittanyspears@yourhouse.now
Subject: Your lover wishes you would vote for Jones
If you're interested in a real opportunity to participate in republican form of goverment, please keep reading.
This is not multi-level marketing! It's better!
If you agree to vote for me and contribute 6 figures to my campaign, you could be next in line for a high paying government job in California!
My campaign manager deposited 140 million dollars in a bank account we can no longer access. If you are willing to help us get the money back, you would receive 10% of the total for your help, plus an all expense paid trip to Nigeria.
A vote for Bill Jones is a vote for herbal Viagra and a larger penis!
Forward this email to 10 of your friends and get a free trip to Disneyland, courtesy of Bill Gates.
Yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah
email bjones@hotmail.com for more info!
Source: http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/1738515p-1818349c.htmlJones Web site yanked after flood of e-mail
By Dan Smith -- Bee Deputy Capitol Bureau Chief
Published 5:30 a.m. PST Saturday, Mar. 2, 2002Secretary of State Bill Jones' struggling gubernatorial campaign had its Web page shut down Friday after accusations that it sent at least a million unsolicited e-mail messages in a last-ditch effort to reach voters.
The messages, which critics blasted as the worst kind of Internet spam, were intended for California voters as Jones battles former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and Los Angeles businessman Bill Simon for the Republican nomination Tuesday.
But recipients throughout the country -- and even in Canada -- received the pitch late this week, prompting angry complaints from anti-spam activists and a response from Internet companies with which the BillJones.org Web site did business.
By Friday morning, the Web site had been shut down, apparently by Atlantech Online, an Internet service provider.
The move dealt yet another blow to a campaign that has struggled to raise money for television advertising and finds itself trailing far behind Riordan and Simon in recent public polls.
Jones campaign officials denied any legal wrongdoing, unethical Internet practices or failure to live up to service agreements with the Internet provider. They said they were arranging for a new Internet provider Friday night and expected their Web site to be back online no later than this morning.
"I have concerns about an Internet provider who is stifling free political speech a week before the election," said Sean Walsh, Jones' deputy campaign manager. "This is an intelligent, thoughtful and appropriate way to campaign."
The head of Maryland-based VirtualSprockets, which the Jones campaign hired to host its Web site in 2000, said the campaign had been warned twice before in recent months about its tactics in mass mailing unsolicited e-mails. In January, the campaign was told its Web site would be shut down if the practice continued, said VirtualSprockets President Tom Yeatts.
When complaints mounted this week, the plug was pulled, Yeatts said, adding that "it does not break my heart that it was pulled. ... As of (Friday), our relationship with them has ended." The president of Atlantech, Ed Fineran, declined to comment.
Walsh said the campaign's contractor was directed to target recipients who had shown some interest in California politics. He said there was "very little bleeding" from the target group, although he acknowledged that some mail went astray. "We apologize," he said. "People need simply to click and delete."
Anti-spam activists, however, challenged the campaign's assertion that only a million e-mail messages were sent, suggesting instead that as many as 35 million went out. They said at least some of the messages were sent by appropriating unsecured computer servers in Asia, a charge that Walsh labeled "urban myth."
John Mozena, co-founder of the Michigan-based Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (CAUCE), said an analysis of the mail showed that it "had all the hallmarks of your basic underground sleazy spammer."
Spam, he said, is not about free speech, but about using others' computer equipment to deliver it.
"You don't have a First Amendment right to use someone else's property," Mozena said. "We absolutely believe that the people who own the property have a right to say how it will be used."
Dozens of messages were posted on Internet discussion groups complaining about the spam. Few were favorable to Jones.
"Jeff C" from Canada was perplexed that he received a pitch for Jones. "The problem is that I don't even live in California. Heck, I'm not even American, so how does he explain the following? 'Your e-mail was selected off the Internet based on your voter demographics.' I guess Good ole Bill really wants the Canadian vote."
One correspondent, known by the initial "A," delivered perhaps the worst message, for Jones at least: "Thanks for the heads-up," A wrote. "I'm a California resident. Primary elections are next week. There are lots of gubernatorial candidates on the ballot. You just eliminated one for me, which I appreciate."
About the Writer
---------------------------
The Bee's Dan Smith can be reached at (916) 321-5249 or smith@sacbee.com .
You are 100% right ... Go Simon!
That's all you need to know about him, the man is a total loser who should withdraw from the fricking race....
His web site should be back up and accessible around Wednesday.
I didn't know that FR wasn't available in California.
It's a matter of basic principle -- you don't steal other people's bandwidth. The argument that people are "overreacting" is precisely what the Clintonistas said when their idol got caught perjuring himself about Lewinsky.
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