Stop with the political texts
To the editor:
Okay, this is my second letter to the editor in the past month. Again, it will have to be a negative post.
I am a registered Republican in Lee County. I have been getting bombarded with texts from Republican candidates asking for their support. I am talking about three or four a day! I report them as spam and block them, but just like the telemarketers, they just change the telephone number and reappear two days later. I am not going to dirty up this protest by naming names, but as far as I can tell, they are all doing it. The texts carry much the same format, so I am guessing they all come from the same enterprising individual or company who has sold his service to all the candidates.
I personally do not think it is right that while you turn your information over to Lee County to register to vote that this same information can be released for any political or commercial purpose. It is more than clear that this information is a matter of public record, but I bet you never imagined it would be used for this purpose. If the political candidate can use this database of information for their own purposes, how long until you start getting texts from the folks selling healthcare and auto maintenance plans?
In the short-term, you can go into your registration online and delete your telephone number. It is not required to register. In the long term, we probably need some laws that prohibit this use of personal information.
T J Thomas
Cape Coral