Earlier this week, thousands of Americans received a surprising text message telling them everything that’s wrong with their president.
On Oct. 30, cell phone users opened their phones to see to various virulent anti-Obama messages, which were sent as emails from a number of domains including GOPmessage.com, informedett.com, votersett.com and republicanett.com. The Washington Post reported that the short and not-so-sweet notes criticized Obama and the Democrats on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and foreign policy. A sampling of the messages:
“Obama denies protection to babies who survive abortions. Obama is just wrong”
“If re-elected, Obama will use taxpayer money to fund abortion. Don’t let this happen”
“VP Biden mocks a fallen Navy Seal during memorial. Our military deserves better.”
“Stop Obama from forcing gay marriage on the states. Your vote is your voice.”
(MORE: Arizona County Lists Wrong Election Date on Spanish-Language Voter Documents)
IT World reported that ccAdvertising, a company in Centreville, Va. that uses robocalls to directly contact voters, owns the domains from which the malicious messages originated. Daily Kos discovered that the COO of the company is Jason Flanary, an unsuccessful GOP candidate in Virginia’s 2011 state senate election who spammed Democrats in his state with similar texts last year. Although the Federal Communications Commission prohibits spam texts, ccAdvertising took advantage of a loophole in the law that allows the sending of email-to-text political notes.
Now the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that supports civil rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual communities, wants the FCC to investigate ccAdvertising. Salon reports that the HRC filed a complaint with the FCC on Oct. 31 accusing the company of defrauding recipients, which is illegal. Robert Falk, the HRC’s counsel, described the charges in a statement:
“[T]he [Telephone Consumer Protection Act] prohibits any person within the United States to use a telecommunications service ‘to cause any caller identification service to knowingly transmit misleading caller-identification information with the intent to defraud [or] cause harm.’ 47 U.S.C. § 227(e)(1). By disguising the sender of the text messages as ‘SMS@Aicett.Com,’ ccAdvertising knowingly and willfully caused the caller-identification service to transmit misleading caller-identification information in an attempt to defraud and harm gay-rights advocates.”
But ccAdvertising remains unfazed by the complaint. Gabriel Joseph, ccAdvertising’s president, told The Hill on Oct. 2 that the texts are a form of free speech and his company is “scrupulous” in obeying the law.
“We live in a country called America. We don’t live in Russia or China or Iran or Syria where they restrict free speech,” said Joseph, defending his firm’s campaign strategy. “The fact that some people are bothered by this doesn’t offend me at all. It means what we’re doing is working. It means it’s effective.”
Flanary’s messages are just one of several voting issues that have prompted debate this election season. Late last month, registered voters in Florida received fraudulent letters questioning their eligibility. Just days earlier, the state’s election protection hotline and the Virginia State Board of Elections were forced to issue a warning about calls that informed voters they could vote via phone. And in Maricopa County, Ariz., officials are working to correct a mistaken voter information card that printed the wrong election date on Spanish-language materials but the correct date in English.
MORE: Did the Anti-Voter Fraud Crusade Undermine the GOP in Florida?