Here’s a follow-up to yesterday’s post about an unsolicited email that turned out to be planted by the American Beverage Association.
This time, though, it’s an online petition that also sweeps off information to be used by the activist group MoveOn.org.
A reader called it to my attention.
Hi Ian,
Just saw this article online @ HawaiiNewsNow about Hawaiian Air & how some nice person is trying to get them to lower their rates for locals:
Hawaii News Now article
It tells you that there is an online petition you can sign to ask Hawaiian Air to ‘just do it’ because they’re essentially price-fixing (at least, according to the petition) – link is here: online petition
Well, from what I see – if you sign that petition, you’ve just given your name, address & email to MoveOn.org.
Fine print…
Note: MoveOn.org Civic Action sponsors SignOn.org. By signing, you agree to receive email messages from MoveOn.org Civic Action and MoveOn.org Political Action. (You may unsubscribe at any time.)
Even if you unsubscribe right away, you’ve been had already.
I’ve read about this stuff before (find ‘worthy cause’, get everyone to sign, & harvest personal info like no tomorrow) – but never seen it in action until now. The reporter never mentions that in his article, either.
Humbug!
J.
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It’s also a “Bring Back the Ferry” petition and not a “Call for Hawaiian Kama’aina Airfares” petition. Very clever. Gotta read it.
I don’t see secret plot to “sweep personal info” into MoveOn’s data base. It is quite open and difficult to miss. It is stated quite prominently, both where you enter your info and at the bottom of the page.
MoveOn is obviously trying to develop a broad-ranging data-base of people who care about a wide-range of issues from a progressive/populist perspective. In this case, from a consumerist/anti-corporatist perspective. So they are providing a convenient online petition service for single-issue citizen-activists to express their opinions and, hopefully, convince the politicians to respond.
The SignOn project is in Beta, meaning it is a defective work in progress needing refinement.
Brad is correct that the language of the petition actually calls for the return of the SuperFerry, as well as allowing other airlines to enter the inter-island market. This is NOT consistent with how the article presented the issue as people calling for special kamaaina rates on Hawaiian. It appears likely that the petition is not a genuine “grassroots” petition, but is an effort by the enduring SF lobby to mislead citizens through their association with MoveOn.
Instead of MoveOn being the ones “taking advantage,” I think MoveOn is the one whose good reputation is being taken advantage of by SF shills. Instead of complaining AT MoveOn, maybe we should be complaining TO MoveOn.
As they refine their operation, I expect they are going to want to guard against their well-intended project being misused by “astro-turf” efforts of corporate PR consultants.