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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.
Funny how one slashdot article follows another sometimes.
Perhaps some campaign finance reform is in order?
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".
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.
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.
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!
Sure they know full well there will always be first victims. They weigh that against the reality of the government effectively "validating" what is or is not a legitimate PAC or charity.
The fantasy of the free market is pure lessaiz-faire without government at all, but that only worked when you knew everyone and societies were tribes in the jungle with less than 300 people. Because you know for a fact when Timmy caught those 30 bass that he's trying to sell you and that they are his to sell.
We live in a complex society where there are "innovators," to borrow a sociological term, that will exploit the lack of information that would not be tolerated in that 300 person tribe and regulation through government and official standards is the result. Anywhere you see an ineffective government in regards to this you see a hellhole. We need rules so that everyone is on the same page, and that markets are fair along with being as free as possible. Unfair markets are markets where people get tired of being screwed over and eventually say "fuck this" and try to stay out of the market as much as possible. This is what the supposed free-marketers don't get - that in the end, lack of regulation is self-defeating if you want a prosperous market.
They just arenâ(TM)t directly affiliated with the politician whoâ(TM)s picture is on the site.
And that's the problem. If one can't be assured where one's money is going, why donate? Enough of these deceptive PACS and people will simply stop donating even to real PACS. Regulation helps *everyone.*
--
BMO
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."