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Defining Political Spam

By Jonathan Bick
February 24, 2005

The Internet has radically altered the nature of communication in the United States. Its effects on the American political campaigns are dramatic, as demonstrated during the most recent political campaign season where it played a decisive factor in several election victories. The Internet offers candidates the opportunity to contact a million votes for about $100 when using unsolicited bulk e-mails, often called spam. Under the First Amendment, political spam is generally lawful; however its use as a fundraising and other specific types of communication may cause legal difficulties.

Since its inception in 1994, the use of spam has grown exponentially. Since 2002, spam has been considered a mainstream marketing option. Firms have spent more than $1 billion per year on spam for the past 4 years. The costs to people and corporations to deal with spam are 10 times that amount. Such costs include lost productivity, more expensive servers and additional bandwidth, additional customer support staff, time spent deleting messages, time spent by people who mistakenly click on spam messages, and time spent tracking down messages deleted by spam filters.

During the 2004 national elections, candidates used e-mail to reach the electorate. By sending out unsolicited bulk e-mails, candidates sent information to millions of voters with the click of a button. Some see political spam as another nuisance, no different than commercial spam or junk mail. Like other forms of spam, it clogs inboxes. Others find political spam to be a form of speech. In particular, they find political spam to be protected speech.

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