[IP] more on [Illegal or not??] tactics in getting to voters
Begin forwarded message:
From: Paul Levy <plevy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 7, 2006 5:04:55 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx, eackerma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] more on [Illegal or not??] tactics in getting to
voters
I confess that one of my colleagues here, who follows election law
much more closely than I do, had a reaction similar to Ethan's.
Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation
"Ethan Ackerman" <eackerma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 11/7/2006 5:01 PM >>>
Pshaw, Paul! (and greetings on what may be a long night for you too.)
I share your immediate reaction and sentiment that FTC (or in this
case FCC) rules about purely political speech can't be constitutional,
but then I too have to remember, that some kinds of constraints on
political speech are legal in the U.S. Some of them even make sense,
like minimal requirements to prevent deception.
Maybe that's why, in this case, the NH state Attorney General is
investigating:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061104/
REPOSITORY/611040380/1043/NEWS01
Think donation limits, famous Supreme court cases like Buckley v.
Valeo, McConnell v. FCC, candidate endorsement requirements in TV ads,
etc.
The specifc FCC regulations about caller identification at the
beginning of auto-dialed pre-recorded calls haven't been challenged,
as far as I know, on 1st amendment grounds, but they are veeeery
similar to the challenged, and upheld, "I'm candidate X and I approve
this message" rules for TV ads. Political identification requirements
are very useful, informative, and help prevent deception, all in a
content- and viewpoint-neutral way.
FCC regs are here:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/09nov20051500/
edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/octqtr/47cfr64.1200.htm
-Ethan
On 11/7/06, David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Begin forwarded message:
From: Paul Levy <plevy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 7, 2006 4:18:27 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] Illegal tactics in getting to voters
do the FTC's rules apply to purely political speech? I rather doubt
it, and I doubt that they would be constitutional to the extent that
they did
Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation
David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx> 11/7/2006 4:15 PM >>>
Begin forwarded message:
From: Henrik Brameus <blondino@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 7, 2006 3:46:17 PM EST
To: David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Illegal tactics in getting to voters
Dave,
I thought this might be interesting for IP readers.
It turns out that the GOP has been using prerecorded telemarketing
tactics, or so called robo-calls, to call up to 200,000 voters, and
every single call is illegal acrding to the telemarketing laws. What
they are not doing is to advice that the call is from the GOP in the
beginning, but rather saves that to the end.
Instead they start of with "Hello. I'm calling with information about
[Democratic candidate]," then pauses for a few seconds and then goes
on slamming the Democratic candidate and finishes with informing that
the information is from the GOP. Of course, if you hang up after the
inital statement, ther robo-call agent will just call again,
continuing to harrass you for what will seem like forever.
Personally I find it remarkable that one of the big parties willingly
breaks the law to smear their opponents.
Here are some liks to more information:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/11/01/
how_do_you_like_those_nasty_telephone_calls_from_the_campaigns/
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/5/191647/511
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/56076
Thanks,
Henrik
--
"If you're right 98% of the time, why quibble about the remaining 3%?"
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as PLEVY@xxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-
people/
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as eackerma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-
people/
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/