Local governments on the 'net

[TheNightFox]

First off, I'm new to the forums, been on HTS for a while, just checked out the forums today.

Anyway.
So, I heard a radio report a couple of months back, it wasn't very in depth, but it mentioned next election in New Zealand (where I am) political parties widening their range of campaigning, including online. Although it pretty much mentioned this in passing, it made me think. Politics shouldn't be allowed on the internet, I feel. They are two separate entities, it would be like Obama campaigning in China, or something.
I know that the governments are already trying (and succeeding to a certain extent) to control the internet, but the idea of them using it to advertise themselves, I just don't see it as right.
Thoughts?

[faazshift]

Agreed. Check this out: http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/01/14/2226219/Obama-Appointee-Sunstein-Favors-Infiltrating-Online-Groups.

[Goatboy]

Well, I'm not one for censorship in any form (book burning, TV ratings, unnecessary post deletion/thread locking) but I don't like the idea of online campaigning. I hate politics enough as it is. Having to deal with that shit online would be ridiculous. They can have their own sites, but as soon as I see political ads on Google, Facebook, or God forbid HTS, I'm going apeshit.

It's like placing ads in video games. When I started seeing real-life billboards in racing games, I started losing faith in humanity. Well, that happened long ago, but this made it worse.

[TheNightFox]

I agree entirely. However, they already have dozens of websites, what we're talking is campaigning, so thus they will have to be advertising, that's how you get people to your site.
I would laugh so hard if my government used the whole "You are the millionth viewer! You Won!" routine.

[insomaniacal]

It'd get really annoying. I got at least 20 phone calls from campaigns recently about the empty senate seat, having to deal with it online would be too much for my poor soul.

[TheNightFox]

Phone calls? Jeez, I would have thought the government would have had more grace then that.

[insomaniacal]

Well, it's mostly the private campaigns of the candidates, and some volunteers. It's usually not as bad as it was this time around, mostly because Massachusetts has the deciding vote on health-care reform, and each side desperately wanted as many votes as possible.