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Annoying Spam mail because I supported Sonic in Net Neutrality

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 11:15 am
by fogpuppy
Dear Sonic,

In response to your requests for my support for Net Neutrality I was glad to fill out forms and support NN in general and Sonic specifically. But today I get email from and "Arnold Sowell" at NextGenArmerica.com asking for donations and support on a number of other issues. While I might even be sympathetic to the issues they are asking about, I am a bit annoyed that my support of Sonic has effectively been "sold" to this other organization. I don't like my contact info being peddled. Of course I may have agreed to this kind of activity by not unchecking some box or by not reading the fine print of the agreement but ....

I expect a bit more form Sonic. I'm glad to support Sonic but I also I think Sonic should be careful to insure how the information we provide gets disseminated. I was a bit disappointed ... Below is a text version of what I got ....


Join us for the People's Day of Action
You wrote a public comment in support of net neutrality. Now, pledge to vote for candidates that support a free and democratic internet.

Pledge Now


Kent,

Thank you for taking a stand against Trump’s repeal of net neutrality and fighting to keep the internet free and equal.

NextGen America is an organization taking action around climate, immigrant rights, health care, equality, and prosperity. In these politically tenuous times, we aim to agitate, advocate, and communicate with activists like you.

NextGen America
We are organizing vast numbers of people who are intent on making a better future for every American and we will send you alerts on how to achieve this purpose.

California just voted to save net neutrality and keep the internet free for all. We know what’s possible when we speak out for what is right.

Pledge to vote. Our democracy depends on it. We need you.

Thanks for being part of this movement,

Arnold Sowell
Vice President, California Policy
NextGen America

NextGen America
PO Box 538, San Francisco CA 94104

Paid for by NextGen Climate Action Committee; https://nextgenamerica.org;
not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

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Re: Annoying Spam mail because I supported Sonic in Net Neutrality

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 2:13 pm
by sysops
I do not believe this is because of Sonic. The recent Sonic action wasn't directly related to Net Neutrality. It was in regards to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and Local Loop Unbundling.

I double checked today and the Sonic form doesn't require an email address, and none of their public filings have email addresses in the comments or letter.

I got the same message and based on the address they sent to I believe this was from an action related to https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/filings ... nated,DESC I signed the Sonic action as a business and did not use personal information matching the email I received today like yours.

I am not sure who, but I believe another organization was responsible for selling out this information. I queried the FCC API for my original comments and no email address is present in the information, so the email address had to come from somewhere else. Bummer, but it doesn't appear Sonic is to blame.

Re: Annoying Spam mail because I supported Sonic in Net Neutrality

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 11:39 pm
by dane
What he said.

Sonic’s advocacy requests this year related not to neutrality but to competitive access, and our form for that submission does not take an email address or include an email address in the resulting filing.

Many folks filed comments with the FCC on the neutrality topic last year, and if they did this and provided an email address when using the FCC’s express comments page, that would be public. Folks like John Oliver and the EFF engaged in that activism to encourage comments.

It looks like someone harvested email addresses from the net neutrality docket, and is now using those to send spam. Very poor form, but not in any way related to Sonic’s advocacy this year.

Re: Annoying Spam mail because I supported Sonic in Net Neutrality

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 9:04 am
by fogpuppy
I stand corrected ... I got the two things totally mashed up in my brain. Sorry for the confusion Sonic. My deepest apologies and you can delete this topic if you want.