parties keen to lift Net campaigning ban

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Rod Van Meter [rdv () sfc wide ad jp]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 9:25 AM
To: David Farber
Subject: parties keen to lift Net campaigning ban

Dave, for IP, if you wish...

...no, nothing to do with Hillary, Barack, John, Bill, Mike, Rudy, Mitt,
or John...

Elections here in Japan are mercifully short, but painful.  Candidates
(or their surrogates) put up lots of posters, including one on a
government-provided billboard set up every few blocks, it seems.

That's not so bad, but the candidates ride around in sound trucks,
wearing white gloves and a sash with their name on it, proclaiming, "I'm
Taro Suzuki!  I'm Taro Suzuki!  Please be kind to me!  Please be kind to
me!" (and the occasional more substantive comment) at ear-splitting
volume.  Sometimes, the trucks just park in front of a train station,
and the candidate climbs up on the roof for an extended speech.

Fortunately, it all lasts only a few weeks from the official start of a
campaign to whatever election is being held.

But I didn't know until I saw this article yesterday morning that
putting campaign materials on the web is illegal.  Someone might put up
something false and give a voter the wrong idea, you know.  (Heaven
forbid!)

Of course, I assume that incumbents are adept at maneuvering around the
ban; every U.S. Congresscritter has a "newsletter" that is thinly veiled
campaign material, sent to voters at government expense.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080107TDY01302.htm

                --Rod



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