The issue of Tea Party members’ emails being sold to all manner of advertisers has become such a problem that the Tea Party Patriots (TPP) felt the need to issue a statement:
Many of you have inquired to ask us about JoinTheTeaParty.us, and TheTeaParty.net. There is apparently confusion between TPP and their organization and we are getting regular emails asking us if TPP is operating as TeaParty.net or JointheTeaParty.us. Numerous organizers have complained to us that their information is listed on those sites and that they cannot get it taken off despite repeated requests… It now appears from the email below that they are offering their list to advertisers through NewsMax. So it seems that these websites are collecting data and donations from tea party supporters across the nation, and using the money they collect from donors to allow them to market more and collect more data which they make available to advertisers through NewsMax.
Read the email below to see how Newsmax is selling TheTeaParty.net’s subscriber data:
TPP got a hold of this email and wanted to send it to its members along with a clarification that TPP does not engage in this type of activity.
Of course, if you go to theteaparty.net, there is no warning that your email will be used for the purposes of selling ever-larger lists to advertisers. If you look at their page, “What Donations are Used For,” it states that
Currently about 70% of the donations received go to marketing, promotion, recruiting, communicating and educating on the tea party movement and principles.
Maybe “Freedom Organizer” Todd Cefaratti should change his job title.
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