Wednesday, October 31, 2012

DIRTY TRICK: Anti-Gay, Anti-Obama SMS Spam


Things that make you go hmmmm! 6 days before the presidential election the dirty tricks are already beginning, with apparently thousands of people are starting to receive spam SMS text messages with anti-Obama, anti-gay messages. The texts say things like "Obama supports same-sex relationships. Voting for him will destroy the sanctity of marriage" and "Obama supports transgender marriage in America. Obamas values are just wrong." (This second text message is really just amusing and bizarre--bad punctuation and completely clueless. "transgender marriage"? What the heck is that?)

The largest LGBT political organization in the country, Human Rights Campaign, has filed an official complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The anonymous texts, which may be a violation of federal law, have prompted HRC to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. 
"It's unsurprising that our opponents are employing such underhanded tactics and trying to attack equality from behind shrouds of secrecy," said HRC Vice President of Communications Fred Sainz in a statement announcing that the nation's largest LGBT-rights organization would ask the FCC to investigate the incident. 
"HRC is filing a complaint with the FCC so that these types of organizations know there are consequences for their actions," Sainz added. "It's unacceptable to launch these types of despicable attacks from dark corners, and it’s incredibly irresponsible to send out unsolicited messages to people who have no desire to receive this type of vitriol."

Although it is illegal to send spam text messages, apparently the texts originated as emails, and using email-to-text technology, the perpetrators may be exploiting a loophole in federal law.

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