In the run-up to the November 7 US mid-term elections, Republican and Democratic parties sent out unsolicited emails campaigning for support.
The emails urged recipients to take to the polls and cast their votes. Samples were picked up by security firm Sophos's global network of spamtraps—providing evidence that the emails have not been targeted specifically at US voters, and could have been distributed to lists created through online email address 'harvesting'.
"A Sophos spamtrap is not a legitimate US voter, so why did it receive emails telling it to vote in the mid-term elections?" said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Given that the Internet is already being clogged up with spam, do we really need US politicians adding to the problem by indiscriminately sending out these unwanted messages?"
Sophos maintains that while legally the emails are not classed as spam—as US political parties are exempt from legislation such as the CAN-SPAM act—the campaigns bear worrying echoes of traditional spamming activity. Sophos experts note that recipients have not necessarily opted-in to receiving political messages.
"It seems that some US political representatives, who helped draft the anti-spam legislation, are actually contributing to the glut of unwanted, unrequested email. Ironically, the parties don't appear to have realised that receiving an unwanted political spam may actually annoy some recipients enough to make them vote in the opposite direction," continued Cluley. "Isn't it time for politicians to abide by the same kind of internet etiquette guidelines that we would expect of any legitimate organization, rise above the tactics of spammers, and only send emails to those people who have specifically opted-in to receive such communications?"
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URBANEYE