Ron Paul wins ANOTHER online poll!

This is to all the Ron Paul fanatics, who like to hype his online polling!

This may explain it!

www.foxnews.com...

Ron Paul supporters may be using e-mail spam and dirty tricks to gin up support for their presidential candidate on the Internet.

"This is clearly a criminal act in support of a campaign, which has been committed with or without [its] knowledge," University of Alabama at Birmingham computer-forensics expert Gary Warner told Wired News.

• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Cybersecurity Center.

Warner was referring to a wave of pro-Paul e-mails that flooded the Internet after the most recent Republican presidential debate on Oct. 21.

The e-mails had subject lines such as "Ron Paul Wins GOP Debate! HMzjoqO" and "Ron Paul Exposes Federal Reserve! SBHBcSO."

The funny character strings are common methods to defeat spam filters.

Warner says his lab traced the e-mails back to servers in Asia, Africa, South America and Europe — signifying that whoever sent them may have used a botnet, or world-wide network of hijacked computers, to pump out massive volumes of e-mail.

The Ron Paul fantasy is almost over!

Yep, just keep throwing these excuses at the public and they'll continue to be unaware that he is even a candidate.

FoxNews has been at the forefront of trying to discredit Ron Paul's online support ever since it started after the first Republican Debate. I think it's hurtful and counter-productive to write off online support as criminal behavior.

Let's assume for a moment that this is true. It's not like Ron Supporters across America are hacking into computers to send his message of freedom. It's not even close to that. IF Spam emails were sent out about Ron Paul, then it was likely the work of a hand-full of people. You can't even say with any accuracy that those Spam emails weren't started by Ron Paul opposition to drum up more anti-paul rhetoric.

Why are you so afraid of Ron Paul getting fair exposure? Why can't you let his internet support be a positive footnote to his campaign? Howard Dean & Ron Paul's internet support are pre-cursors to how campaigns will be waged in the future of American politics.

So you get an email with Ron Paul's name in the subject line and.. you lose control of all your faculties and rush off wildly to vote for him?

I guess that explains why the RNC and the media refuse to mention his name.. the guy's an evil genius.

Originally posted by The Cyfre
Why are you so afraid of Ron Paul getting fair exposure? Why can't you let his internet support be a positive footnote to his campaign? Howard Dean & Ron Paul's internet support are pre-cursors to how campaigns will be waged in the future of American politics.

How can you call Howard Dean internet support a pre-cursor to anything?

He not only lost the nomination, he lost it to John Kerry. Come on!

You can't blame FOX News for reporting things the liberal media won't.

FOX broke the story now here is other outlet jumping on....

www.wired.com...

If Texas congressman Ron Paul is elected president in 2008, he may be the first leader of the free world put into power with the help of a global network of hacked PCs spewing spam, according to computer-security researchers who've analyzed a recent flurry of e-mail supporting the long-shot Republican candidate.

"This is clearly a criminal act in support of a campaign, which has been committed with or without their knowledge," says Gary Warner, the University of Alabama at Birmingham's director of research in computer forensics. "The question is, will we see more and more of this, or will this bring shame to the campaigns and will they make clear that this is not a form of acceptable behavior by their supporters?" Warner pointed to provisions of the federal Can-Spam Act.

I have been calling out the Ron Paul online support as "spam" from the beginning. It is nice to finally be vindicated!

Without proof that Paul's organization is behind this, I won't hold him responsible. There's no reason to impute the actions of others to him without solid evidence.

That being said, anyone using spamming software for this--or any other--purpose needs to be found and prosecuted.

Here is a link to an article on Wired.com. They also say that there is no evidence that his campaign is behind it.

Dan Hubbard of security company Websense reviewed one of the messages captured by the university. He believes that there was some type of spam-laundering in use -- though not necessarily a botnet.

"I have not seen a malicious-code sample yet that is sending these mails, therefore I would say it's likely that either they are using a botnet, or they are using open relays," he says, referring to unsecured e-mail servers that will accept anonymous e-mail and forward it back out to the internet.

Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said in an e-mail, "This is the first I've heard about this situation."

"If it is true, it could be done by a well-intentioned yet misguided supporter or someone with bad intentions trying to embarrass the campaign," he wrote while ferrying his boss to tape an appearance on The Tonight Show. "Either way, this is independent work, and we have no connection."

[edit on 11/1/2007 by Togetic]

Well, only a few replies in and we've already seen the type of "oh FOX news said it blah blah blah" that I've become accustomed to around here.

You can't prove anything to these fanatical Paul supporters. They wouldn't believe it if Ron Paul himself came out and said his whole campaign was based on spam and misdirection. They'd just say it was some sort of hoax or that FOX news forced him to say it with threats. These people just don't listen.

The only vindication you, I and other realists such as ourselves will get is after the elections when Ron Paul only receives 1% of the vote.

Although they'll probably still complain after that.

Originally posted by RRconservative
Warner says his lab traced the e-mails back to servers in Asia, Africa, South America and Europe — signifying that whoever sent them may have used a botnet, or world-wide network of hijacked computers, to pump out massive volumes of e-mail.

The Ron Paul fantasy is almost over!

So this Warner does he work for Fox News? I think this whole deal is bogus to discredit Ron Paul. Botnets and hyjacked computers??!! HAHAHAHA. How can that even happen when the FBI is monitering the internet? Now I heard it all. Why are you so against Ron Paul? Oil is up to 94 dollars a barrel- and wonder who drove those prices up? The US is on the brink and your worried about spammed polls? Shame on you.

reply to post by Leyla


Warner is the University of Alabama at Birmingham's director of research in computer forensics. People are making mistakes and conflating about 18,000 different things.

1) This is not a Fox News complaint. This is a story out of the University of Alabama.

2) There is no proof that Ron Paul's campaign organization is involved, and even if a supporter is doing it, it is unfair to criticize Ron Pal for the actions of people he can't control.

3) Bots can be used for a variety of purposes. They could be used to manipulate online polls, it is true, but the empirical evidence seems to be that Paul's supporters are just a more Internet savvy and energetic group than average.

4) While there are FBI programs that moniter Internet traffic, it is nearly impossible for any one bank of computers to regulate the traffic that goes around cyberspace. Therefore, it is not possible to conclude immediately that any E-mail with Paul's name in it is necessarily not spam.

Originally posted by RRconservative
How can you call Howard Dean internet support a pre-cursor to anything?

He not only lost the nomination, he lost it to John Kerry. Come on!

I'm not talking about the kind of person he is, or even Howard Dean. I'm talking about the effect of the internet on how campaigns will be managed. If Mitt Romney had a well managed and effective internet campaign, he wouldn't have to take money from his own pocket to pay for his run. That's what i'm talking about.

Originally posted by RRconservative
You can't blame FOX News for reporting things the liberal media won't.

Yeah, i'll bet CNN and MSNBC are jumping all over this as well. Clearly your other bible is Fox and you don't watch much other news. If you did, you'd be aware that Ron Paul doesn't get much coverage on any station. When he does, it's almost always as a sidenote, and ALL the networks pass him off as a kook. I'm blaming the media for restricting our choices by narrowing THEIR focus not just on Ron Paul but on Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Joe Biden to name a few.

Originally posted by RRconservative
I have been calling out the Ron Paul online support as "spam" from the beginning. It is nice to finally be vindicated!

Congratulations! You keep fighting the good fight. Keep beating that drum and rattling that saber like Hannity and Billo say. I heard Bush gave Tenet a medal after 9/11, i'm sure he's got one laying around for all the other patriots as well.

[edit on 11/1/2007 by The Cyfre]

Ron Paul has 2% of the poll vote based on CNN. So RR I really don't know why your sweating bullets. He's no where near Rudy so relax. Unless Ron gains $10,000,000 million on November 5th.

There is only 3 who didn't spend over half of their campaign money-Fred Thompson, Hillary Clinton and Ron Paul.

Its time to be looking very close on how 2008 canadates spend their money.

Under $6,000,000 million.

----------------------- Cash On Hand------------------------------
Bill Richardson-(D) [$5,821,588] Total- 5,746,366- Cost of Debt
Ron Paul-(R) [$5,443,667] Debt 0
Chris Dodd-(D) [$3,874,874] Debt 0
John McCain-(R) [$3,488,628] Total- 1,757,937- Cost of Debt
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Under $1,000,000

Dennis Kunich (D) [327,094] Debt 0
Mike Huckabee (R) [651,301] Debt 47,810
Duncan Hunter (R) [132,742] Debt 50,000

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In Debt and dosen't have cash on hand to cover the debt.

(Should drop out)

Mike Gravel
Alan Keyes
Tom Tancredo
------------------------


Going to Bankruptcy court.

Mitt Romney-(Biggest overspender Someone fell asleep in economics class.)

Cash on Hand
[$9,216,517]

Debt 17,350,000

Total
-8,133,483

This itself is a shame- Mitt really seemed a decent man for President.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
National US Debt and climbing each second-

-$9,085,070,177,801

Its time to get serious here.

[edit on 11/3/2007 by Leyla]

Hmm, that is interesting. But when we deny ignorance can we naturally take one element and extend it to all?

I say no, and regardless of spamming or not spamming, most people could care less about online polls, Ron Paul supporters or not (which I am a supporter in many ways, yet could care less about online polls).

They are meaningless and always have been for this very reason. Spamming is quite easy to do, so it does as much to distort to overall results as it does to obscure Ron's actual support online or off.

RR and others can bash him all they like and excuse away this that or the other. We like him, support your guy and we'll support ours.

Some seem to work entirely too hard trying to discredit rather than support. There is ignorance on both sides of this fence, but such is the way of humanity.

I'd prefer we all take a few to chill and perhaps have better discussions because I've noticed the trench venom already and we haven't even gotten close to the election.

Remember today Ron Paul is going for a record setter in his much needed campaign contributions, please if you believe in the U.S. Constitution, then please help by contributing to his success, simply go to his official site and donate, whatever you can afford (i.e. 25-100 dollars or up to a maximum of 2,300 per person; must be a U.S. citizen or possess a valid green card). TIA!

www.ronpaul2008.com...

[edit on 5-11-2007 by RexxCrow]

My god people. I am a huge Ron Paul supporter and even I get sick of the constant copy/paste advertisements.

Here's a hint folks, if you ENGAGE people in discussions rather than simply plastering crap everywhere you might get more traction.

Do we really need more ads on ATS? Isn't that what we registered for?

Do spam bots have credit cards?

I've not received any of the spam reported.
I figured it out for myself, then made a couple of donations to the campaign yesterday.

Frankly, I'm ready for a change.
I've chosen Ron Paul as my candidate, on my own.
I did this a few months ago.

He didn't even choose to run the 5th of November donation event
It was coordinated by others. very successfully, I might add.
So congratulations on that.

I've also noticed that donations are up AFTER the 5th.
The growth is exponential, it appears

The funny thing is, the more negative reporting I see, the more it shores up my support. Because, like usual, Mainstream Media deals in Half-truths. They report the half that supports their position.
But we know that here...this is ATS