[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[crazy canuck]

All of which if pretty easy to do for a young misguided Neil.

How would he raise the money?

Why do you assume this takes money?

[HVC]

All of which if pretty easy to do for a young misguided Neil.

How would he raise the money?

Why do you assume this takes money?

i'm assuming call stations cost a bit of money. it'd take a really dedicated neil on a minor functionaries salary to dole it out.

[Jacob]

Why do you assume this takes money?

Because that was what Oex posited in the original post that you replied to.

Does setting up robo calls not cost money?

[Barrister]

But I have to say this is sounding more and more like something a young Neil would pull off independant of any political party.

Then that young Neil would need to have access to funds for the companies which sent the calls, access to the electoral lists, and either contacts who coincidentally had similar ideas in other ridings, or a sufficient authority to coordinate such an effort in different ridings. That does not seem like it fits the profile of the 23 y.o. who was conveniently fired.

Access to the party databank isn't all that hard to get access to if you volunteer.  I've had access to it at times.

[Jacob]

Access to the party databank isn't all that hard to get access to if you volunteer.  I've had access to it at times.

How costly is it to set up robo-calls? Is it like a $50 program? Or is it some sort of expensive thing that most people don't have access to unless their organization funds it?

[Barrister]

Access to the party databank isn't all that hard to get access to if you volunteer.  I've had access to it at times.

How costly is it to set up robo-calls? Is it like a $50 program? Or is it some sort of expensive thing that most people don't have access to unless their organization funds it?

I think it's on the order of a few thousand dollars.  Not pocket change, but conceivable that someone could fund it themselves.

I think it a rather unlikely option though.

[Maximus]

Perhaps I don't know what "robocalls" refers to since I've not encountered the term before, but it seems to me that a bot that calls a list of numbers and plays a message would not be at all hard for a few kids to set up with a PC or two and lunch money.

[ulmont]

I think it's on the order of a few thousand dollars.  Not pocket change, but conceivable that someone could fund it themselves.

I think it a rather unlikely option though.

Here in the SE US, it would be 3-5 cents per recipient retail.  So $30-$50 per thousand people targeted.

[Barrister]

Perhaps I don't know what "robocalls" refers to since I've not encountered the term before, but it seems to me that a bot that calls a list of numbers and plays a message would not be at all hard for a few kids to set up with a PC or two and lunch money.

You need lots and lots of phone lines.

[Maximus]

You need lots and lots of phone lines.

Which a voip server will get you. You can turn your home PC into a voip server for little to nothing. It's not quite my field of expertise but with a good internet connection and some technical savvy it doesn't seem that hard.

[Neil]

But I have to say this is sounding more and more like something a young Neil would pull off independant of any political party.

No it doesn't.  Somebody with money had to be involved to pay for the call centre.

As for myself, I am unlikely to involve myself in electoral dirty tricks, as my politics are the politics of hate.  It's hard to get motivated to do some electoral fraud when you're not especially interested in who wins the election, as they'll fail no matter what they do.

[Neil]

You need lots and lots of phone lines.

Which a voip server will get you. You can turn your home PC into a voip server for little to nothing. It's not quite my field of expertise but with a good internet connection and some technical savvy it doesn't seem that hard.

All of which is interesting, but don't we already know where the calls came from?

[Jacob]

Which a voip server will get you. You can turn your home PC into a voip server for little to nothing. It's not quite my field of expertise but with a good internet connection and some technical savvy it doesn't seem that hard.

So the person who's responsible is either:

1) Someone who cared deeply about Conservative candidates across multiple ridings, thought the strategy of misdirection up, has the technical know-how to set up call centres with not too high a cost to himself, decided to go ahead on his own initiative while also deciding not to tell anyone within the Conservative Party.

2) Someone within the Conservative party with access to the funds to pay someone with the technical know-how to do this. The Conservative party functionaries either kept people further up in the loop or decided to keep it quiet from more senior party functionaries.

If this was indeed used in numerous ridings as is alleged, then I find it somewhat unlikely that it was a rogue operative who just happened to have the skills and motivation.

[HVC]

Also, where they using a robo-caller? i thought there were live call center people? I recall scripts being mentioned. or am i confusing scandals?

[garbon]

Which a voip server will get you. You can turn your home PC into a voip server for little to nothing. It's not quite my field of expertise but with a good internet connection and some technical savvy it doesn't seem that hard.

So the person who's responsible is either:

1) Someone who cared deeply about Conservative candidates across multiple ridings, thought the strategy of misdirection up, has the technical know-how to set up call centres with not too high a cost to himself, decided to go ahead on his own initiative while also deciding not to tell anyone within the Conservative Party.

2) Someone within the Conservative party with access to the funds to pay someone with the technical know-how to do this. The Conservative party functionaries either kept people further up in the loop or decided to keep it quiet from more senior party functionaries.

If this was indeed used in numerous ridings as is alleged, then I find it somewhat unlikely that it was a rogue operative who just happened to have the skills and motivation.

Not that I think 1 is particularly likely but it doesn't have to sound as crazy as you put it. Talk about stacking the deck.