CSC 379 SUM2008:Week 1, Group 2

Political Uses of Spam for Special Interests and Influencing Elections

Acts of defamation through spam and chain letters present many ethical concerns and can have significant impacts on the public perception of political issues, candidates, or can be used as a medium to spread misinformation to surreptitiously influence elections. Provide an overview of the ways spam and chain letters can be used to influence politics, providing a brief review of the ethical concerns each raises, and links to online resources that cite specific instances or effects of each. Also briefly examine legal and ethical considerations in regulating political spam.

http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn12754-hackers-could-skew-us-elections.html

Influence of spam and chain letters in politics

Young politicians and older statesmen, are coming up with savvy ways of using the spam and chain letters to influence or communicate with large audiences. Spam campaigns have become increasingly more popular on a national level and even on local political levels. With the technology readily available it would make sense for politicians to utilize this as a resource to reach a certain demographic audience or a broad range of its constituents.