FOR more than an hour on US election day in 2002, the lines of a "get-out-the-voters" phone campaign sponsored by the New Hampshire Democratic Party were clogged by more than 800 prank calls.
In the 2006 election, 14,000 Latino voters in Orange county, California, received letters saying that it was illegal for immigrants to vote and doing so could result in their deportation.
Shameful though these examples are, at least those responsible - Republican party officials, consultants and campaign staff - were traced and charged or shamed by the press. In future, however, tracing dirty tricks and bringing perpetrators to account might not be so easy.
The internet, touted for its potential to democratise the political process (New Scientist, 9 March, p 28), may in fact do the opposite. It allows people to anonymise and broaden the scope of such dirty tricks, and paves the way for new scams, say ...
10:45 10 October 2008
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