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Look-Alike Web Sites Hoodwink Republican Donors
Hugh Pickens writes "Shane Goldmacher writes that a network of look-alike campaign websites have netted hundreds of thousands of dollars this year in what some are calling a sophisticated political phishing scheme. The doppelgänger websites have the trappings of official campaign pages: smiling candidate photos and videos, issue pages, and a large red "donate" button at the top and exist for nearly three-dozen prominent GOP figures, including presidential nominee Mitt Romney, House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and donation magnets such as Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Allen West of Florida. The only difference is that proceeds from the shadow sites go not to the candidates pictured, but to an obscure conservative group called CAPE PAC run by activist Jeff Loyd, a former chairman of the Gila County GOP in Arizona. 'The only thing they are doing is lining their pockets and funding their own operation,' says Republican political strategist Chris LaCivita. CAPE PAC has a strong Web presence, with over 100,000 followers on Twitter and 50,000 on Facebook and its business model is to buy Google ads — about $290,000 worth, as of the end of June — to promote its network of candidate sites whenever people search for prominent GOP officials. A search for 'Mitt Romney,' for instance, often leads to two sponsored results: Romney's official site and CAPE PAC's mittromneyin2012.com. Once on a CAPE PAC site, users would have to notice fine print at either the top or bottom of the page revealing that they were not on the official page of their favored politician. A dozen donors, including some experienced Washington hands such as Neusner, had no idea they had contributed to the group before National Journal Daily contacted them. 'It confused me, and I do this for a living,' says Washington lobbyist Patrick Raffaniello. 'That's pretty sophisticated phishing.'"
Idiots and their money are soon parted.
But hey, at least this way, they weren't going to as horrible of a cause.
This was inevitable since citizens united. Money=speech and does not necessarily need to relate to a campaign to be used with respect to a campaign. Fraud(is it fraud?) was a completely logical consequence.
The dirty little secret is that there is less money in fishing for Democrats
This leads to something that has always puzzled me about American political parties -- their legal status. Are they non-profit corporations, or something? Other than the brownshirts, what keeps me from opening up a storefront down the street from the local Republican Party headquarters, and call my place the local Republican Party headquarters, instead -- complete with candidates that I support, fundraisers, etc.?
Funny how one slashdot article follows another sometimes.
Perhaps some campaign finance reform is in order?
Yet the disclaimer was right there at the bottom of the page.
Why do you hate the free market, Neusner?
--
BMO
Hey just a quick reminder, election day this year for 3rd party candidates has been moved up to Tuesday November 6th so they have extra time to count handwritten "Ron Paul" write in votes and stuff like that... so if you're voting libertarian party, or really any 3rd party, anyone other than -R or -D, PLEASE show up at the polls on Tuesday November 6th, mkay? And if you're voting for a -R or -D then DO NOT show up at the polls until Wednesday November 7th this year. I'd really appreciate your help and if you could copy this to your facebook and G+ and twitter and all that, I'd really appreciate it as a personal favor. Please make sure that any -D or -R voters you know, won't show up at the polls until the 7th, OK?
TLDR is the voting commission has split presidential voting by party to reduce crowds, all 3rd party voters = vote on Tuesday Nov 6th, and D/R voters please don't arrive at the polls until Wednesday Nov 7th!
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
They go for smooth and polished, and don't look at all like the cluttered, Times New Roman-laden "stopmrobama.com" -- oh, and the fact that your "mittromneyin2012.com" link redirected to "stopmrobama.com", and the page that comes up is all about Obama, and doesn't have the word "Romney" anywhere on it, should also be big hints.
'It confused me, and I do this for a living,' says Washington lobbyist Patrick Raffaniello. 'That's pretty sophisticated phishing.'
Uh, no. This just proves Washington lobbyists are pretty bad at what they purportedly "do for a living".
It's interesting that this is hitting Republican donors. Republicans tend to claim to see regulations as something to be avoided, as big-government, anti-free-market, babysitting when people and/or the free market should take responsibility.
However, this is exactly the sort of "there ought to be a law" technically-legal-but-unethical business practice that regulations, at their best, can and do address. Right now this guy is probably protected from a solid fraud case because he puts the disclaimer, albeit in tiny print and in an unlikely place to read it. But regulations could be promulgated that would require any page site that accepts political donations to post disclaimers of proper level of font size, prominence, and in clear language.
Such regulations already exist for, for example, the credit card "box" that clearly, states terms of credit card offers, including the APR, fees, etc. Before the "box" regulations, this info used to be squirreled away, in fine print, obscure language, if it was to be found at all. And like the donors, people often found themselves unwittingly fooled out of real money because they were duped.
Gotta love all the comments so far. Apparently, when it's a sleazeball in your own party, it's just a single sleazeball (or a handful of them, whatever), not representative of the party. But when it's the other party, it's poetic justice.
No, people, fraud is fraud, deception is deception, no matter which politics they put on their front door, and no matter who they defraud.
SECRET SOURCES OF MONEY that need not be revealed
does that really feel like something that should be part of your country? democrat, republican, anyone?
where is the outrage about that?
if money from who knows where can influence our politics, i don't know why this story should elicit 1/10th of the concern
if it comes from who knows where, it might as well go who knows where
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Looks like capepac.org is slashdotted, so I can't donate!
Maybe their hosting is through GoDaddy.
I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
Caveat Stultus.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Look-Alike Web Sites Hoodwink Republican Donors
And Actual Democrat Web Sites Hoodwink Democrat Donors...
Don't hate, you'd laugh if it were reversed.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Republican politicians hoodwink Republican donors (and the rest of us) every day of the week. Nothing to see here, move along.
Funny and true! Their name servers show as domaincontrol.com, which is, in fact, GoDaddy.
This guy is going to give PAC's a bad name.
Let me highlight something you quoted...
...without government regulation or fear of monopolies.
This is the basic problem that I have with 'free market' proponents. Without the former, how do you prevent the latter? People have demonstrated time and again, that given the chance to acquire and abuse power, they will.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
What it has to do with him is that he has a track record of making bad business decisions. First, he hired a bookkeeper that doesnt know the difference between a PAC and his favorite candidate. Second, when his bookkeeper made a donation on his behalf he blamed the site instead of his bookkeeper. Third, he still hasnt fired his bookkeeper.
This guy has a destiny.
"His name was James Damore."
People have demonstrated time and again, that given the chance to acquire and abuse power, they will.
Can I play the FTFY game?
Governments^WCorporations have demonstrated time and again, that given the chance to acquire and abuse power, they will.
People are both the antidote, not^Wand the poison.
We could just as well say that " any organization made up of people has demonstrated at some time that, given the chance to acquire and abuse power, they will."
Some people are well-adjusted and will not willingly harm others of their own volition. Other people are sociopathic maladjusted dangers to others, who strive only for their own personal gain.
Many of us exhibit both sets of behaviors, among others, depending on the circumstances and overall context.
That said, when choosing whether to grant power over me to a government that is, at least ostensibly, representative, or to a company that is, at least ostensibly, interested primarily in making a profit while minimizing (and often externalizing) costs, I'll choose the government. At least I have some way of influencing governmental decision-making, even if I'm not a shareholder.
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."