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piranhaapparently the NRCC has been making automated phone calls (robocalls) to prospective voters that are specifically designed to harass them and have them associate that with the democratic candidate. collecting information, talking points memo is hot on the track of this.
here's what's happening:
there are regulations about robocalls: the FCC says all prerecorded messages must "at the beginning of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call."
these calls don't do that. they start with wording like "hello. i am calling with important information about [democratic candidate]."
FCC regulations also prohibit telephone solicitations to residential telephone subscribers "before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m." these NRCC calls are made in some cases in the middle of the night. and they repeat if you hang up on them. sometimes 7-8 times in a row.
all of which pisses people off. with good reason. but if you don't listen to the whole message you don't find out who is actually making the calls, but you associate them with the named democrat. if you do listen, the messages are supposedly misleading or outright lies (which in itself is unfortunately nothing new for campaign advertising).
so the design is dual-purpose -- if you listen you get a bunch of lies, if you don't, you're left with the impression that the democrats harass you like bottom-feeding telemarketers in the hope that this will make undecided or not particularly motivated voters get pissed at the democrats and not vote for them.
this is so slimy. as i said before, i am not a friend of conspiracy theories. but this isn't an isolated incident. this is the national republican campaign committee, doing this in at least 53 races all across the US. that makes it organized. and the message i am hearing is "we don't care HOW we win, just THAT we win". i am becoming convinced that there will be vote fraud and manipulation all over these elections. i wish americans would kick these people to the curb for that alone. and i wish people with true conservative values would leave this party in droves, because it is no longer a party that acts on conservative values.
this kind of vote manipulation undermines democracy more than any terror attacks.
no subject
on 2006-11-06 04:55 (UTC)You know, we really ought to send the UN in to monitor election practices, since the US is obviously incapable of running free and fair elections.
I used to say that half-jokingly, but now I'm quite serious.
coincidentally...more people need to know about this
on 2006-11-06 21:08 (UTC)| How To Sue the Auto Dialers |
| from the phone-wreckers dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday November 01, @11:13 (The Courts) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/01/1316231 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Bennett Haselton writes " Every year just before election day, I usually
get a few phone calls from machines that dial numbers and play a
pre-recorded message telling people to vote a certain way. I find these
annoying even if I support the side I'm being asked to vote for, and most
people don't realize that in most cases you can sue the organizations for
making these calls, even if they are non-profits. So, you can make some
money while advancing a good cause (i.e. stopping the bozos from doing it
again). Here's how to file your case in Small Claims court, how to
possibly negotiate an out-of-court settlement in advance, how to argue
the case in court, and how to collect afterwards." His essay follows...
This story continues at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/01/1316231
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/11/01/1316231