Ron Paul Supporters May Be Using 'Botnets'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.
"This is the first I've heard about this situation," Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton told Wired News.