Anyone received a letter from Austria???

megapixel

Hi Folks,
I have just received a letter from Austria asking me to consider my vote seriously for the upcoming ref on Lisbon Treaty.
Goes on about how lucky we are to be able to vote on this etc.
Thanks

Karoma

And from whom in Austria was it from? or was it on behalf of the entire country? Hmmm?

LostinBlanch

From a cellar somewhere?

Seriously though, these kind of things are well intentioned (whatever side they're sent in support of) but rarely work.

Does anyone remember the Guardian running a letter campaign for its readers to write to US voters in the last election asking them to vote Bush out. That worked didn't it?

lostexpectation

yes did they say it was the save austria campaign... just a far right group writing personal letters to people more details on p.ie nad in the papers times and spb.

Irish and Proud

lostexpectation wrote: »

yes did they say it was the save austria campaign... just a far right group writing personal letters to people more details on p.ie nad in the papers times and spb.

Far right group or not, they're dead right in saying that we as Irish people are very fortunate to have a vote in relation to the Lisbon Treaty. I need not say any more! :mad:

Regards!

Scofflaw

lostexpectation wrote: »

yes did they say it was the save austria campaign... just a far right group writing personal letters to people more details on p.ie nad in the papers times and spb.

Post Article.

cordially,
Scofflaw

JohnMc1

LostinBlanch wrote: »

Does anyone remember the Guardian running a letter campaign for its readers to write to US voters in the last election asking them to vote Bush out. That worked didn't it?

Because nobody wanted John "King of all Flip-Flops" Kerry to get in.

Our man in Havana

Is it legal for Libertas to supply the electoral register to these Austrians?

Mena

That appears to be a clear case of data protection breach right there, well, appears to be...

sink

Afaik the electoral register is a public document anyone can access it, don't know if it has full addresses on it.

Our man in Havana

It has enough info to send a letter on it.

sink

According to wikipedia the full electoral register can be examined by anyone under supervision, copies can not be made. An edited version is availble to the public which omits entries of people who have opted out. Afaik suppling addresses to anyone is not illegal, it is illegal to send un-solicited spam mail to those addresses. So if an individual sends a solitary letter to another individual it is not illegal. Which is what appears to be happening in this case.

Our man in Havana

Are these personal letters or mass produced spam?

sink

Well what typically happens in these scenarios is a standard letter is drafted by the organisers of a group and then other members sign it and send it individually on their own behalf.

Scofflaw

Bond-007 wrote: »

Are these personal letters or mass produced spam?

Here's the website - click on the link next to one of the "Free Addresses", and it will generate you a letter.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Our man in Havana

Here is the letter:

Dear ______________,
As an ordinary citizen of Austria, I would like to congratulate you on the fact that according to your constitution you are able to decide yourself on the Treaty of Lisbon (EU ‘reform’ treaty). In Austria, we have unfortunately been denied this right, in spite of the fact that a large majority of the population would be in favour of a referendum here too. And there have also been several large demonstrations.

You are in the privileged position of being able to decide yourself on your fate and that of your children. 500 million EU citizens would wish to be able to do the same. How you vote in the referendum is your own free decision, of course.

If I could vote here in Austria, I would vote No to this treaty:

Firstly, because from 1 July 2008, the start of the French EU Presidency, it is increasingly clear that the EU should become a military alliance with close ties to NATO. This would further damage Austria’s neutrality – and no doubt Ireland’s too.

Secondly, because this treaty does not do anything to put a stop to the increasing wage dumping in the EU. There have already been alarming verdicts on this issue from the European Court of Justice. A new EU tax could also be imposed soon.

Thirdly, because this treaty would make a decisive contribution to the “formation of a new empire”, as the President of the EU Commission José Barroso publicly declared last year (Telegraph.co.uk 18.07.2007). National sovereignty and neutrality in Ireland, Austria and elsewhere would then mean almost nothing.

The Czech Parliament has therefore instructed its Constitutional Court to examine this treaty. Cases will also be brought before the courts soon in Austria, Germany and Britain.

You as a free Irish citizen have the opportunity to stop this treaty. In this way, the independence of all European nations could be preserved and the path to a new, better EU treaty would be free.

With very best wishes from Austria, from a citizen who is not allowed to vote

Max Mustermann

redspider

They only seem to be Dublin addresses (I clicked about 10 times), and they are randomised but there are many Byrne's, Murphy's, Kelly's and O'Brien's. Smiths too.

I checked one via: www.checktheregister.ie, but it wasnt there. So, on that sample of one, they dont seem to be addresses taken from the election register. (Also, many have just one letter as their firstname, eg: E). They could have bought the address list from some legitimate provider who have them for direct marketing purposes. They may have got them form the phone book. There are other sources too. Direct Marketing is not illegal in Ireland (via post) as far as I am aware.

Redspider

R0C0

I used to work in Telemarketing , the company I worked for bought its names, address' and phone numbers from an independant database company, who actually purchased them from Eircom. Even people who were ex-directory were included in the lists we had. I assume they could easily do the same for this campaign.

megapixel

Bond-007 wrote: »

Here is the letter:

Thanks for the replies this is the letter that i got hand written to add to it's appeal.