Mafia's 3G Electoral Fraud Tactics
Well, here's one group that's made good use of 3G wireless networks and picture messaging. It appears that Mafia organizations in Italy are using 3G picture messaging for vote rigging. Here's how it works: they get people to agree to vote for a particular candidate in exchange for 50 euros. Then, to prove they go through with the plan, they need to take a picture of themselves voting for the chosen candidate, which they then send to the mafioso. The Italian government says that they're going to prevent this - though, they don't say how. I always said that users would figure out the "killer app" for picture messaging themselves. Perhaps this is it.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team