Boyink! - Spring Forward on the Web

What a mess.  I’m normally not a very political person, but I got myself into it this year.

It all started when, in a moment of weakness I signed an online petition to lower gas prices in Michigan.  I forgot that it was an election year, and this was less about actually doing something lower the price of gas than being able to say you “tried” to lower the price of gas (Granholm has been touting this petition in her TV ads).

The true goal, it seems, was to gather email addresses in order to send out “re-elect me spam” that doesn’t even conform to the federal CAN-SPAM requirements because it didn’t include an unsubscribe link.

You’d think that would be bad enough, wouldn’t you?

Ooooh no.

Now we have the Michigan Republican Party wanting to get in on the act. 

They saw what Granholm did, and (rightly) realized that using those email addresses to send election information was a poor thing to do.  So their course of action?  They used the Freedom of Information Act to get that email list from Granholm’s party.

And promptly sent an email to that list telling us we should be outraged that Granholm did it.

The subject line of the email was even designed to be misleading as it read “Outraged about gas prices?  You should be.”, yet again this has nothing to do with gas prices.  Here’s the body of the email:

Dear Neighbor:

I hope you are as outraged as I am that I got your email address.

You recently signed an on-line petition organized by Governor Jennifer Granholm because you were concerned about high gas prices, as we all are.

Unfortunately, instead of taking your message to Washington, Governor Granholm took your email address over to her campaign headquarters, and you started getting emails from the Granholm campaign.

The fact is, your privacy was violated by Governor Granholm, who gave your personal email address to political organizations. In addition to your email address, they also have your phone number and home address. Don’t be too surprised when you start receiving Granholm campaign phone calls and literature in the mail.

If you did not intend for your information to be abused in this way, please contact the Governor and tell her so. You can reach her at:

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan 48909
PHONE: (517) 373-3400
PHONE: (517) 335-7858 - Constituent Services
FAX: (517) 335-6863

Rest assured, unless you have signed on to receive emails from the Michigan Republican Party, this is the last you will hear from us. Unfortunately, we cannot make the same guarantee about Governor Granholm, or any other organization that she has given your information to.

Thank you for participating in the process. I hope the fact that you have been exploited by the Governor in this way doesn’t dampen your willingness to participate once again in the future.

Respectfully yours,
Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
Chairman, Michigan Republican Party

I was so dumbfounded over this one that I actually called the Michigan Republican office to verify that they had indeed sent this email.  The person I spoke to said “Yeah, we’re getting alot of calls about that”. 

Well, duh.

He also re-affirmed me that they were only going to send the one email - to which I responded that I didn’t feel that made it any better.  Spam is still spam.

I normally vote Republican, but right now I’m just angry enough to not do so.

It concerns….no scares me…that these are the people with the power and influence to improve the economy in Michigan, and high tech companies are often mentioned as one of the solutions for the shrinking manufacturing base. 

Yet, they continue to demonstrate utter cluelessness in using the most basic of technological tools - email.

Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.

1. sparky on August 11, 2006

   Funny, while the state government is spamming, they’re doing this:

   “Michigan attorney general charges companies with e-mail violation”
   http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/15245700.htm

   Is that the true definition of irony?

   Granted, you’re not a children, but they’re enforcing spam laws…

2. Chad on August 14, 2006

   I’m not sure I see the contradiction here.  Upon receiving your first email from the Granholm campaign, you, because you work in tech, understood immediately that you got screwed.  That all she did was grab your info and now you were in for non stop campaign spam from now til November.

   However, I think you are probably in the minority in that regard.  The majority of people who would sign a petition like that, (like my parents), NEED to be told that they got screwed.  They would not immediately see the connection.  In addition, based on the text of the message that you were sent from the Republican party, I don’t know how they could have made it more clear that they will NOT email you again.  The text of the message is pretty sparse…they tell you what happened, then they promise to go away quietly.

   All in all, I think they handled it pretty well.  Full disclosure…I normally vote Republican, but there is plenty of reason to be disappointed with them right now. 

   Let me ask you this…If you had this sort of info in your hands…info that your opponent has misused the personal information of thousands of residents, how would you get the word out?  Suggestions?

3. Michael Boyink (Author) on August 14, 2006

   My view is that spam is spam - I didn’t request it from either party.  Telling me that they “wont do it again” doesn’t matter - they already did it. 

   In fact - that they make such a big deal out of “not doing it again” tells me they know it’s wrong…

   But overall sending me spam to tell me that the other party spammed me (and shame on them for doing so) is idiotic.

   Have a press conference, do a TV ad, radio ad, whatever—just don’t do the very same thing you’re calling the other party on the carpet for.

4. Dave J. on August 21, 2006

   Hi Mike…I’ve been out of town for a week. Did this get picked up in the press at all? Seems like good political fodder.

   My biggest problem with the whole thing is the fact that an email list can be gained via a FOI request. Suppose anyone else could request this list and spam you again!

5. Michael Boyink (Author) on August 21, 2006

   I never saw it in the media, then again I don’t watch closely.

   Your point is well taken though - with the FOI there can really be no privacy.

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