Related Politech message: http://www.politechbot.com/p-03986.html --- http://news.com.com/2010-1071-958881.html Exploiting online raunch at the polls By Declan McCullagh September 23, 2002, 4:00 AM PT What is it with state attorneys general trying to stamp out Internet vice around election time? On Oct. 27, 1998, precisely one week before Election Day, the New York State Attorney General's Office raided an Internet provider in Buffalo and confiscated its news server. The charge, according to former Attorney General Dennis Vacco, was that BuffNet carried Usenet newsgroups where child pornography could be found. It could be found, that is, if someone looked hard enough--and Vacco's investigators were nothing if not determined. The ploy didn't work. In one of the closest statewide contests ever, Vacco lost to Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, by a vote of 2,084,948 to 2,059,762--a whisker-thin margin of just 25,186 votes. This year, attorneys general for Pennsylvania and Michigan, gubernatorial hopefuls both, are testing the same underhanded tactic. In moves that are simultaneously constitutionally dubious and coldly calculating, they're betting they can win votes by spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan CNET Radio 9:40 am ET weekdays: http://cnet.com/broadband/0-7227152.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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