Political spam

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Acquiring votes by e-mail is a logical extension of campaigning by telephone or mail, and is nothing but marketing for political ends. Whenever the e-mails are unsolicited, they qualify as spam. They can be sent by, on behalf of, or without any knowledge by, the favoured party or candidate.

The threshold for using unsolicited bulk e-mail seems to be lower, the lower the profile, or the chances, of a candidate.

  • One incident involved a small party in parliament, which had a political position which was, on one point, very much favoured by the Turkish government. E-mails have been sent to Dutch nationals in the Netherlands who are of Turkish origin, asking to vote for this party, and, in particular, a candidate of Turkish origin on this party's list. In this case there seems to be no involvement of the candidate herself, Fatma Koser Kaya, in the e-mail campaign. The mails were sent from the Turkish Ministery of General Affairs, and signed 'Ali Alaybeyoglu', who is adviser to the Turkish Minister of Religious Affairs and Foreigners of Turkish origin. The adviser has stated that he had no knowledge of the sending of these emails, and the Turkish Minister of State has speculated on abuse. The candidate, Kaya, has obtained a seat in parliament.

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