Opponents of cluster munitions flood PM's inbox with more than 50,000 e-mails

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An international e-mail campaign may lie behind the more than 50,000 e-mail messages received by the Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre).
      The opponents of cluster weapons sent the messages to Vanhanen during Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. A government security unit considers the episode an e-mail attack.
      The sent messages deal with a conference held in Dublin, where more than a hundred countries reached agreement on Wednesday on banning cluster weapons.
     
According to Hannu Kuikka, head of the Government Preparedness Department, the content of all the messages is virtually identical.
      “The present understanding is that the messages were sent from abroad”, Kuikka explained on Wednesday afternoon.
      Among the sender-names there are also Finnish names. Kuikka considers it possible that the campaigners have used hijacked computers or fake sender-names.
     
Another possibility is that instead of a so-called "e-mail bomb", this is a case of an internationally coordinated campaign involving masses of people.
      For example on Internet sites, such as avaaz.org, it is possible to sent messages protesting against cluster weapons to the leaders of a chosen country. The page contains a pre-written letter, which, if desired, can be reworked.
      The receiver of the message is selected based on which country the sender says he or she is from. If the sender chooses Finland, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s e-mail address will appear in the receiver address field.
     
Jyri Hovila of Espoo sent Vanhanen a message through the site.
      “The pre-written message said more or less what I think of the subject. This was an effortless way to voice one’s opinion.”
      Hovila was slightly surprised by the number of messages received by Vanhanen. “Then again, this is an international website, so it is possible that among the senders there are people from other countries as well”, Hovila says.
      “Mass petitions have existed for years. This is just the modern way to do it.”
     
The opponents of cluster munitions are running an international campaign, one of the targets of which is Finland. Finland wants to acquire cluster weapons to replace its infantry landmines, the ban on which was agreed on after another international campaign.
      Unexploded ordnance that remain in the terrain pose a long-term deadly hazard to the civilian population.
      According to the government, Finland needs cluster munitions for the same reasons as it used to fight against the ban on infantry landmines. Finland has long land borders, the defence of which is difficult without mines or cluster weapons.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Peace Union campaigner insists Finland must take responsibility in cluster munitions talks (13.11.2007)
  Finnish cluster weapon purchases raise criticism among NGOs meeting in Peru (24.5.2007)
  Defence Forces insist self-destruct mechanism of cluster weapons works well (7.1.2008)

Links:
  Avaaz.org
  Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions

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