Black Friday came one week early for some candidates in the Irish General Election. On Friday, 22 November, a number of my rival candidates and some high profile candidates in other districts discovered that I had registered their domain names and created web sites comparing their profile to my own.
This didn't involve any wrongdoing on my part and it was entirely preventable if the other candidates had been proactive and registered the names themselves as soon as they decided to run. In some cases, the candidates had previously owned the domain names and forgotten to renew them. Looking at the registration dates with the whois system, it is clear that I only did this in the middle of November, long after many of these people had publicly announced an intention to run.
I'm also aware that something like this could backfire if it is not done very carefully. There was a high profile case where Ming Flanagan's Twitter account was misused by one of his employees. The employee deliberately impersonated Ming and sought to bring him into disrepute. In the context of the election, there is an acute focus on the actions of all political candidates. Given that some of the domains concern the Monk, for example, GerryHutch.com, the chances of publicity, either good are bad, are even higher.
There are three fundamental differences to the Ming case:
I don't feel like holding these domain names for the long term. The point has been made. Many other candidates have now rushed to protect their names and this appears to be in the best interest of protecting the public too.
Genuine cybersquatters have seized the domains AlanShatter.ie and KateOConnell.com. In the latter case, the cybersquatter is openly asking for a ransom of $4,999. I haven't asked anybody to give me money for these domains. There is no blackmailing.
Candidates who's vote tally is bigger than one quarter of a quota will automatically get their expenses reimbursed. Anybody in that category can use public funds to pay for domain registration fees so many of them would not make any personal loss buying their domain name(s).
Here are the sites in question:
| Constituency | Candidate | Party | Sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dublin Central | Gerry Hutch | (he has a gang, not a party) | gerryHutch.com, gerryHutch.ie, gerardHutch.com, gerardHutch.ie, theMonk.ie |
| Dublin Rathdown | Alan Shatter | Independent (former Fine Gael) | alanShatter.com |
| Dublin Bay South | Chris Andrews | Sinn Féin | www.ChrisAndrews.ie |
| Dublin Bay South | Jim O'Callaghan | Fianna Fáil | www.jimocallaghan.ie |
| Dublin Bay South | Emma Blain | Fine Gael | EmmaBlain.com, EmmaBlain.ie |
| Dublin Bay South | Kate O'Connell | Independent (former Fine Gael) | kateoconnell.ie |
| Dublin Bay South | Brigid Purcell | People Before Profit | BrigidPurcell.com, BrigidPurcell.ie |
| Dublin Bay South | Nick Delehanty | Independent | NickDelehanty.ie |
Possessing all these domains gives me the ability to monitor statistics about public interest in each candidate.
For example, GerryHutch.com has more hits, if you'll excuse the pun, than all other candidates combined. Out of the candidates for my own district, Dublin Bay South, BrigidPurcell.com gets more hits than all the others. This may be because she appeals to a younger generation who are keen to find her web site.
It would have been far worse if these domains were acquired by somebody who really wanted to impersonate candidates, deceive voters or charge a hefty ransom to sell the domains.
As some of the domains were used before, the candidates had created email addresses that would still function. I chose not to reactivate the email addresses for any of the domains because I don't want to receive emails and attachments that are not intended for me. Nonetheless, a bad actor would have immediately reactivated the email addresses.
It is interesting to see that Ursula von der Leyen has picked an Irish candidate, Michael McGrath to be the EU's Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. The Law Society published an article about his selection. They note the following:
'Every success'
“We wish Mr McGrath every success in his new role,” he said.
The appointment of the new commission was announced by the body’s president Ursula von der Leyen this morning (17 September).
She said that she would entrust the former Minister for Finance with the responsibility to take forward the European Democracy Shield, a proposal to detect, track, and delete online disinformation in co-ordination with national agencies.
Rule of law
“He will also lead our work on the rule of law, anti-corruption and consumer protection,” said von der Leyen.
Naturally, the EU Commissioner will be delighted that I have secured his domain name too. We can look in the Wayback Machine to see old copies of his web site before the domain registration lapsed.
Prior to politics, McGrath worked as an accountant so I'm surprised he didn't have a system in place to keep track of domain name renewals for himself and his colleagues in the Fianna Fáil party.
It is important to think about how and why these pre-existing domain registrations were allowed to lapse. Was it due to a deliberate move to social control media? If so, they have excluded the constituents who don't consent to use Facebook and Twitter.
In the reports about Kate O'Connell's decision to quit Fine Gael, she complains about the shift from policy to soundbites.
Back in the 1990s, I used to host the web site of Lindsay Tanner, the member for Melbourne who rose to the post of Minister for Finance. From the very beginning of his time in office, he wanted to use the Internet, which was still very new for the public, as a place to publish papers about policy issues. Many politicians don't do this any more. We can use the Wayback Machine to see Lindsay's old web site and browse through his 15 years in parliament.
Another factor in the loss of these domain names is the question of outsourcing. Ireland is known for harboring the digital gangsters at companies like Google and Facebook but is there anybody inside the political parties who has any technical competence? Do the individual candidates have people in their personal teams who understand web sites and apps in any detail, or do they simply outsource everything to the cloud and social control media?
Ireland is only a small country and if we look at some of our larger competitors, they have some engineers and scientists in their parliaments and they also have people or businesses that are very tech-savvy and aligned with specific political parties and their candidates.
Participating in Irish politics, we seem to have more activists, lawyers, writers and even that notorious Monk.
As noted in my web site about the Sinn Féin candidate Chris Andrews, the name Sinn Féin means "ourselves".
There is a well known exchange between Edwin M Stanton and President Abraham Lincoln. Stanton sent Lincoln the memo asking for unlimited power to monitor the telegraph:
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, January 24, 1862.
MR. PRESIDENT:
In my opinion the success of military operations and the safety of the country require some changes to be made in the Bureau of Ordnance, and perhaps some others, in order to secure more vigor and activity; and I desire to have your sanction for making them.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, EDWIN M. STANTON.
Lincoln replied:
The Secretary of War has my authority to exercise his discretion in the matter within mentioned.
A few weeks later, Stanton's request was codified in an Executive Order:
Executive Order—Taking into Military Possession all Telegraph Lines in the United States
February 25, 1862
WAR DEPARTMENT
Ordered, first. On and after the 26th day of February instant the President, by virtue of the act of Congress, takes military possession of all the telegraph lines in the United States.
Second. All telegraphic communications in regard to military operations not expressly authorized by the War Department, the General Commanding, or the generals commanding armies in the field, in the several departments, are absolutely forbidden.
Third. All newspapers publishing military news, however obtained and by whatever medium received, not authorized by the official authority mentioned in the preceding paragraph will be excluded thereafter from receiving information by telegraph or from transmitting their papers by railroad.
Fourth. Edward S. Sanford is made military supervisor of telegraphic messages throughout the United States. Anson Stager is made military superintendent of all telegraph lines and offices in the United States.
Fifth. This possession and control of the telegraph lines is not intended to interfere in any respect with the ordinary affairs of the companies or with private business.
By order of the President:
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
The social control media systems that many candidates are using today are simply a full-colour version of the telegraph. The surveillance and control mechanisms are still there.
As Sun Tzu put it in the Art of War:
Subdue the Enemy without fighting
Social control media appears to have subdued political elites very effectively in a lot of small countries like Ireland.
More news and policy statements regarding my campaign for Dublin Bay South:
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