The Purloined Letter

[Chris_Wendt]

Actually, the purloined email address lists.

It is interesting (not funny, but interesting) the number and types of email address lists that have been purloined from legitimate compilers and misused in the all-out campaigning for the school board election.

While some people may be getting a charge out of purloining and abusing lists to which they do not have legitimate access (at least not for campaign purposes), it would not be inconceivable that someone could be charged with violating the civil rights of others whose privacy is protected under federal and state statutes.

I am referring of course, the the school district's contact list of the parents of Special Education students. There is a law, and I have provided contact information to at least one parent who expressed interest in taking formal action about the alleged abuse of that list. If filed, such a complaint would name the District as co-defendant.

Even if an official complaint is not filed, the shame of if it is that the email addresses of the parents of Special Education students are now out and about all over the district, in and among a rash of libelous email traffic among "supporters" of a school board candidate.

Way to go, Wantagh!

Astonished, truly.

Chris Wendt

[ducky]

Why not tell us "who" is illegally using the list so all candidates are not painted with the brush?

[Chris_Wendt]

What are you, his attorney or something, Ducky? Just kidding.

No, I can not hang this on a candidate, because I have no direct proof yet that a "candidate" was personally involved. Like the sign wars nonsense, the candidate's hands are "clean" thanks to their supporters, who carry out the nefarious deeds on the mean streets of Wantagh under cover of darkness.

Of course, dear candidates, not everyone else in the community exercises the same degree of restraint that I do. Some hot heads out there will gladly use any excuse they can find to jump to a convenient conclusion that it was YOU! who did this, and that, and the other thing.

"D" minus thirty one hours and counting.

Chris Wendt

[jdelisa]

two sad points Chris:

• were any lists actually purloined? (I would believe anything this sad BoE election cycle.)
  
  what I find more probable and offensive year after year, group after group, e-mail after e-mail, are e-mail Senders that refuse or simply don't understand that every e-mail address that is simply cut & pasted into a TO: box becomes public property for any e-mail abusers and the equally annoying REPLY ALLer. I cringe this time of year when past mucky-mucks decide to honor me, year after year, with their option via an old e-mail list used for that prior group or project. (anyone needing help creating mailing lists or finding the BCC: box in their e-mail, please let me know.)
  
  
• no knock to our current, ever-improving English Dept, but how many of even our advanced English students would get your Edgar Allan Poe title reference?
  

and since I'm in a crappy mood anyway (will the sun ever come out again?): has our District ever abused our pricey emergency notification system to try to drum up voters during budget/BoE elections? I heard that it was very common in other districts....

I promise to be in a better mood if I see anyone at the polls tomorrow....

[lilly]

May 16, 2011 18:49:24 GMT -5 jdelisa said:

and since I'm in a crappy mood anyway (will the sun ever come out again?): has our District ever abused our pricey emergency notification system to try to drum up voters during budget/BoE elections? I heard that it was very common in other districts....

I am downright cranky going through withdrawals for my annual therapy dose, gardening. May 16th and I haven't bought a flat or pot of anything and nothing planted on my property.

In previous years we have received contrived messages via the emergency phone system to be careful of the traffic due to Learning Fair at the election site. Let's see, 8:41 p.m. and no contrived message ringing on 5 of our phones (home, cells, work) at the same time. Score 1 for the district if they do NOT do this this year.

[Chris_Wendt]

John. because I do not want to believe that any individual candidate would personally stoop to purloining an email list, I am not going to point up which lists were involved, other than, allegedly, the disrtrict's contacts for parents of Special Ed students.

Regards,
Chris Wendt

[judy]

Well if you don't have any proof that this happened,Why would you print this? Is it to stir up trouble the day before an election?
There was an email sent around to the board members of Septa and then forwarded to friends etc.. but that email had a name attached and that email was a campaign effort for the candidate that you are endorsing.

[Chris_Wendt]

Judy presumed:
"Well if you don't have any proof that this happened,Why would you print this? Is it to stir up trouble the day before an election?"

In journalistic parlance, I stand by my statements and the confidentiality and confidence of my sources are protected. I have seen emails addressed to purloined mailing lists.

You may prefer to believe that no email addresses were abused, and therefore, that I am lying, you know, to stir-up trouble on the eve of the election.

I was shaking my head over those who placed purloined email addresses en masse in the "To" line of their messages instead of using a proxy or group address, or even the "bcc" line of their email with a dummy address on the "To" line.

In addition to giving away the extent of their bad behavior, they facilitated correction of the misinformation which was being spread around town, you know, in an apparent attempt to stir-up trouble during the run-up to the election.

Borrowing a couple of words from the ineffable Eugenia Doubtfire, "Oh, my!"

Chris Wendt

[Wantagh Parent]

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