Do I know Fraser Henderson?

Someone called Susie Ruston from something called 21cConsultancy sends me a personal invitation to some citizen empowerment symposium

My colleague Fraser Henderson mentioned he recently met you at a BarCamp event at Googles offices and that you were interested in receiving more information about the next International eParticipation and Local Democracy Symposium blah blah blah Citizen engagement is a key priority to the UK Government as demonstrated by the launch of the CLG ‘Action Plan for Community Empowerment’....Secretary of State, Rt Hon Hazel Blears....Governments position...Action Plan...Symposium....etc etc etc

Well, it ain’t that personal. I’ve never heard of Fraser Henderson. He certainly didnt meet me at the Google offices because I wasn’t at BarCamp. And who in their right mind goes about expressing interest in eParticipation Symposia? Not me. So this is either a misunderstanding or a fib. I expect everyone who put their email address to the Barcamp thing is getting Susie’s PR sweet talk. What a drag. I wonder if this 21c outfit is Romanian?

Published by William Heath on 13/02/08 at 7:38pm

Comments

Funny, I had that too. But not to any email address connected with my barcamp participation....

Reply by Jeremy Gould on 02/13/08 at 10:28 pm
I also got one of these and didn’t make it to barcamp either…

Reply by Sam on 02/13/08 at 10:43 pm
I know Fraser Henderson

Reply by on 02/14/08 at 1:01 am
Oh, cool. Maybe you can clear all this up then. Is he part of the whole Romanian spamming scene? Did he fib to this Susie person about meeting us all, or is shady Susie taking his good name in vain do you think? I know; I’ll write a polite note to Susie and ask her.

Reply by on 02/14/08 at 9:54 am
OK: I wrote thus:
Dear Susie

I don’t know you so I didnt open your attachment. Nor do I know Fraser Henderson so either he misled you or you’re taking his name in vain. Nor was I at Barcamp. And I never expressed any interest in e-participation symposia.

So what’s happened here? Where did you get my email address from, also those of my friends Jeremy and Sam?

Also, what is 21cconsultancy? The only record I can find is something in egovmonitor which says 21cConsultancy is a “professional firm”

Reply by on 02/14/08 at 10:00 am
Greetings from Romania!

Well, not exactly....OK, I’ll admit to being Fraser Henderson - but only until I get my UK passport

Sorry if the messages got crossed. As you might have guessed, 21c (http://www.21cconsultancy.com/) are contacting people who might be interested in the symposium. For some reason you were on the email distribution.

The bit about us “meeting” is definately a fib. Still, perhaps that’s a timely introduction?

Reply by Guess Who on 02/14/08 at 2:06 pm
This item is current top hit if you Google Fraser Henderson. I’ve tried to do my bit over here.

Reply by David Wilcox on 02/15/08 at 11:12 am
Let me try to explain what’s happening here.
Sa spunem conducatorilor Europei ce dorim de la e-guvernare. Vom cheltui 88m de euro taxe pe an pentru informatizarea guvernarii in Europa. Am spus vreodata ce dorim? Sunt proiectele gandite pentru cetateni? Ne vor face viata mai usoara si vor veni in intampinarea
necesitatilor noastre? Putem sa ne incredem in ele? Este clar pentru noi ce dorim?

Sa aflam aici, online. Trimiteti un e-mail lui William Heath daca doriti o parola de autor.

Does that clear things up? That’s the only bit of Romanian I can lay my hands on which I think explains what we do here (but it may, of course, be offering some quite different and inappropriate service). I’m sure our friandly spammers would know, if only they identified themselves.

Reply by on 02/15/08 at 12:22 pm
Some background:
21c Consultancy was founded by Julia Glidden who used to be the UK boss of Internet voting suppliers Election.com which became the now defunct Accenture e-democracy services. 21c Consultancy were the PR advisors for English e-voting pilots in May 2007.

Under FOI I received some of their planning documents for their PR work - I can’t publish it I’m afraid, but they were very cunning in trying to manage media coverage and eliminating certain key people from the media discourse.

Reply by Jason Kitcat on 02/15/08 at 12:23 pm
Dear Fraser

Good to hear from you. Hi. Yes, it sounds as if we’ve got off on the wrong foot but you’ve taken it in good spirit and actually we have interests in common and should meet up for a coffee. Bloomsbury Mon-Wed most weeks works for me; drop me a line anytime on wmheath at gmail dot com

W

Reply by on 02/15/08 at 12:25 pm
Oh, I know Julia - hi Julia

Havent seen her since she spoke at a conference in Brussels with Andrew Pinder. I was a bit annoyed because I had reservations about what she said and raised this in Q&A but AP gave me short shrift and the aud. rated her higher than me - fair dos. I recall an excellent public speaker in a smart suit, confident, engaging, ready to listen (a bit). But was she (and the whole Accenture e-voting thang) perhaps fatally weak on technology?

Reply by on 02/15/08 at 12:35 pm
Hi Guys! Gosh this is like an eGov reunion! Or eGov back in the good old days when it was a little more exciting.

Firstly, I clearly need to apologise. We did not mean to bother anyone, let alone misuse email.

Still, point taken and lesson defintely learned! Perhaps we can incorporate this exchange into a session on how NOT to use the Internet. I always thought that a conference on WORST PRACTICE would be a sell out, and far more valuable than the usual blather.

Fatally flawed on technology? Fair point there. Without wishing to bore everyone with the history of eVoting I have always been a passionate advocate of the need to get standards, procedures and practices in place to ensure fairness, accuracy and transparency. Clearly have not been successful on this front!!!

I won’t tempt a complete loss of all intellectual legitimacy by inviting you to the London event (Smiley function is not working, or worse yet my technology skills are continuing on their fatally flawed trajectory!!) But it would be great to get caught up soon and perhaps try to resolve the problems of the eGov universe over a glass of wine or two.

So please consider this an Offical, Non-Mistakenly Extended Invitation!!

Reply by Julia Glidden on 02/15/08 at 2:59 pm
What I would love to know is how they got our email addresses?

Reply by Glyn on 02/16/08 at 8:27 pm
Sorry about delay in moderating those last comments. I meant to do this yesterday but found myself testing out local public services with oxygen mask strapped in the back of an ambulance careering up the A12 to Ipswich hospital with suspected scary heart thingy (now thought just to be the same two-month-old viral chest thingy morphed a bit and stopping me breathing, ie I’m fine. And Suffolk public services are in fine fettle). Anyway
The smileys are working; we have properly extended invitations which we can accept with pleasure to clear these things up and catch up over coffee. And then I _will_ know Fraser Henderson. But yes, do let us all know how the email addresses were collected and used.

Reply by on 02/17/08 at 12:53 pm
Susie hasn’t replied yet - maybe she’s on leave for half term leave or something. I did find her picture, but it didn’t answer the questions. And a picture isn’t sufficient reassurance to open an attachment from someone you don’t know.

Reply by on 02/18/08 at 6:12 pm
Hi William. Friday sounds horrendous and scary - I am really glad all is now ok....And that public services are in good form! Do hope you are feeling much better!

Susie and I have been out of the office - in my case battling an unexpected blizzard in Athens! - so apologies for the late posting. But no mystery - or indeed juicy conspiracy! - on the email address front I am afraid. It was just plain old fashion google research based on a delegate list.

Wish I could also admit to a juicy plot on the part of underhanded PR people to corrupt the web, but again alas I am afraid that the truth is less interesting.... Simply put, we reached out to people whom we thought - however mistakenly - might be interested in the London event in an effort to help promote an agenda we have worked on for years.... And did so as part of our voluntary role in helping to organise the event.... We are not PR people, and I can guarantee everyone that the publicly obtained emails were used for no more than this particular invitation, and will not be used again (unless of course we meet for that coffee and decide to stay in touch!)

That is not to excuse the mistake - or more importantly - the valuable lesson learned, which we have fully taken on board.

By the way, did anyone see the piece in the Guardian about the travel blogger? Raised some interesting issues, as did a recent study by the Centre for Policy Studies about the political use of the Internet in the UK. I’d be really interested in any thoughts anyone might have?

Reply by Julia Glidden on 02/19/08 at 1:14 pm

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