I thought it odd when I logged in to my computer this morning and found an email in which someone declared Ron Paul to be the winner of the Republican Debate yesterday, but then, I have all sorts of odd friends. By the time I had received my fifteenth copy of the email, I knew this was something more than a deluded pseudo-Republican. I thought at first this was a virus, but now it seems to be a plain ole Spam Campaign.
The question, I suppose, is what should be done about it? Will we see fans of other campaigns hiring out spam campaigns devoted to extolling the views and records of their candidates? Will there be an evolving message body on the Ron Paul spam to keep pace with the upcoming events on the campaign trail? Its too early to tell, but we will continue to document the trend from the Spam Lab at UAB.
Here's the body of the email . . .
Hello Scott,
Ron Paul is for the people, unless you want your children to
have human implant RFID chips, a National ID card and create
a North American Union and see an economic collapse far worse
than the great depression. Vote for Ron Paul he speaks the
truth and the media and government is afraid of him. This is
the last honest politican left to bring this country out of
this rut from the War Profiteers and bush Administration has
created. Get motivated America, don't believe the lies of the
media he has also WON the GOP Debate On Sunday! Value Freedom
and Liberty instead of corporate lies and corruption. Bypass
this media blackout they are doing to Ron Paul, tell your family
and friends and get involved in a local group at meetup.com make
your voice heard! He will end the War In Iraq immediately,
He will eliminate the IRS and wasteful government spending, and
eliminate the Federal Reserve and restore power to the people
and the only person not a member on the CFR. Can any other runner
make these claims or give Americans the true freedom we were all
raised to believe? We are all economic slaves to the banks and the
illegal federal Reserve. This is why our currency is worth nothing
because of Hidden Inflation Tax and the IRS taking everything
you make!
** RON PAUL WILL STOP THE IRAQ WAR IMMEDIATELY! **
He has NEVER voted:
* to raise taxes
* for an unbalanced budget
* to raise congressional pay
* for a federal restriction on gun ownership
* to increase the power of the executive branch
He HAS voted:
* against the Iraq war
* against the inappropriately named USA PATRIOT act
* against regulating the internet
* against the Military Commissions Act
He will eliminate the IRS, Wasteful Government Spending &
Stop The Iraq War Immediately!
Most importantly, he voted NO on anything in Congress that
is not allowed by the Constitution. And he Despises any
politican that does not do their job for the people and lives
up to the constitution!
Google.com & Youtube.com Search: "Ron Paul"
Join The Revolution!
***************************************
We Need A Real President That Will Restore And Protect
Americans! Stop The War! Protect Our Borders!
*********VOTE RON PAUL 2008************
ubPOJg
The subject line seems to be selected from a small number of subject lines, and then appended with a random character cluster (perhaps to break spam filters?):
Subject lines:
Vote Ron Paul 2008! ZyhYKbw
Iraq Scam Exposed, Ron Paul TLshVzn
Ron Paul Exposes Federal Reserve bpIHP
Ron Paul Stops Iraq War! gPsLhM
Iraq Scam Exposed, Ron Paul wjtsLBp
Ron Paul Stops Iraq War! LcskHxT
Government Wasteful Spending Eliminated by Ron Paul vpntZRr
Vote Ron Paul 2008! pboLKjr
Who Is Ron Paul? ZTobxay
Ron Paul Exposes Federal Reserve JrZXihF
Ron Paul Stops Iraq War! LyNdrha
Ron Paul Eliminates The IRS! fiqfRZZ
Government Wasteful Spending Eliminated by Ron Paul BtkmlDF
Ron Paul Wins GOP Debate! HMzjoqO
Ron Paul Exposes Federal Reserve SBHBcSO
Government Wasteful Spending Eliminated By Ron Paul mEoHUiR
Government Wasteful Spending Eliminated By Ron Paul HRAyaaI
The spam seems to invent a random first and last name, and combine that with a true email address from the infected machine. Here are sample senders from my inbox:
curtice andrzej - sph@research-int.com - [77.181.200.157] (Germany)
byrann shan - phyllis@faxsav.com - [86.9.35.98] (the UK)
humbert jerrimy - alessand@tvldyn.com - [87.210.63.248] (the Netherlands)
jamey jamal - fataneh@i-qts.com - [124.84.175.218] (Japan)
algernon heung-do - melville@surecom.com - [124.84.175.218] (Japan)
christoforo sharad - fang@ohiohills.com - [124.84.175.218] (Japan)
fabe rosemary - hywel@msn.com - [124.84.175.218] (Japan)
hamil orlando - osulliva@surecom.com - [58.140.151.170] (Korea)
cristobal dai - irma@seagate.com - [58.140.151.170] (Korea)
frants cresswell - aziz@3com.com - [190.86.81.131] (El Salvador)
claudius quinn - avi@shoyher.com - [200.166.91.2] (Brazil)
chaim billie - mukund@atomis.com - [200.166.91.2] (Brazil)
chris field - hal@connecthouston.com - [79.3.4.33] (Italy)
alonso sidharta - cindy@e-business-associates.com - [58.141.39.110](Korea)
linn ming-hor - jikun@four-soft.com - [196.207.13.18] (Nigeria)
jerad anant - gorog@franceloisirs.com - [218.209.109.27] (Korea)
Posts
Gary,
ReplyDeleteI saw these too-- and posted about it on my blog: Random Desiderata: Ron Paul Spam
I've read some opinions that this is a "dirty trick" foisted by one of his opponents. I don't know what to think; it does seem to follow previous Ron Paul supporter behavior on digg and elsewhere.
At the rate that Ron Paul's real live human support is growing (as evidenced by crowds and money), it seems more likely that this is an attempt to give the good doctor some bad press. He doesn't need spam to grow his base.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, Ron Paul supporters at ronpaulforums.com and elsewhere are chomping at the bit to get at the evidence. The thought is that some tech-savvy folks might track the source and out the spammer. This would be pretty good as evidence of self-policing among the "crazy" Paulies, and it would be a home run if it turns out that it's coming from, say, a Guiliani supporter/operative.
Actually, what is most interesting to me is that Ron Paul's ACTUAL supporters that have put their emails out there all over in support circles have NOT gotten these emails. I am the organizer of a group of 200 members and live in a state with nearly 1,200 other members. So far, I have not been able to locate a single one of these members that received this spam.
ReplyDeleteYou would think it would make sense that if it was a supporter, they would have easy access to other supporters email addresses and these would be added to the targets. Instead, the emails appear to be targetted to people from groups OPPOSED to Ron Paul, media, etc.. which of course would be angered and annoyed by the emails and start creating complaints about it.
I have asked 6 people that claim to have gotten the emails (none of them are supporters) to forward the emails to me. Each have said they would, but it has been nearly a week and not one has sent it.
We really do want to find out where these came from and I cannot believe that this is impossible to track down.