MainSleaze

For some months the campaign of Jon Bruning, a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, has been sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2007. The sending ESP is IContact.

And the waves of political spam continue in this U.S. presidential election year. :/ The primary election was held today, and I do not know whether Bruning won or not. Regardless of the outcome of this election, however, I expect for the spam to this email address to continue. Lists of email addresses for political campaigns are inevitably traded or sold. CAN-SPAM (as weak and ineffective as it is against spam) does not apply to political campaigns. They are free to send opt-out email, ignore unsubscribes, purchase lists, and engage in behavior that would cause a company to be prosecuted — all without legal jeopardy. It is up to the American public to hold them responsible.

I’m doing my part. Please do yours. Report political spam to the ESPs that send it and publicly. COMPLAIN about political spam to the ESPs that send it, and publicly. Use your Twitter accounts to send tweets to the politicians whose campaigns are spamming you and protest the spam. Do not let the politicians and their campaigns get away with their terrible email practices without penalty. Maybe we can convince them that it’s less painful and less costly to their political ambitions not to spam.

Sending IP: 207.254.213.232

Spam Sample:

Actual Headers:

Received: from drone175.ral.icpbounce.com (drone175.ral.icpbounce.com [207.254.213.232])
        by <xxx> (Postfix) with ESMTP id <xxx>
        for <xxx>; Tue, 15 May 2012 07:xx:xx <xxx>
DKIM-Signature: <xxx>
Mime-Version: 1.0
From: "Jon Bruning" <Campaign@jonbruning.com>
To: <xxx>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 08:xx:xx <xxx>
Subject: Asking For Your Vote
Errors-To: bounces+<xxx>@icpbounce.com
List-Unsubscribe: <https://app.icontact.com/icp/listunsubscribe.php?<xxx>>
X-List-Unsubscribe: <https://app.icontact.com/icp/listunsubscribe.php?<xxx>>
X-Unsubscribe-Web: <https://app.icontact.com/icp/listunsubscribe.php?<xxx>>
X-ICPINFO: <xxx>
X-Return-Path-Hint: bounces+<xxx>@icpbounce.com
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="<xxx>"
Message-ID: <<xxx>@drone175.ral.icpbounce.com>

Readable Email:

From: Jon Bruning <Campaign@jonbruning.com>
To: <spamtrap>
Subject: Asking For Your Vote

Dear <xxx>,

The day we’ve been working for is finally here. In one hour, the polls will open and voters will determine which candidate they feel is best equipped to defeat Bob Kerrey in the fall. Today, I humbly ask for your vote. You deserve to be represented by someone with a proven record of fighting for Nebraska
values.

<removed>

Together, we will put our country back on a path of fiscal sustainability and economic prosperity.

Warmest wishes,

Jon Bruning

Paid For By Bruning For Senate, Inc. | P.O. Box 83950 | Lincoln, NE 68501