Pragmatic solution beats legal and organizational regulations: Two examples

Many problems seem surprisingly insoluble. For example, the IHK Wiesbaden holds the opinion that every forced member must equally be forced to endure election campaigning by mail or e-mail. So much for the legal example, which follows. Another considered example is the impossibility of wanting to have one's own Google MyBusiness entry removed. There is a way out for both problems.

Introduction

The motivation for this post was something I would like to call absurdity. It's about election campaigning by email that cannot be turned off. In addition, the creator of the election campaign, a candidate for the IHK plenary assembly election, has done more than just the allegedly allowed election campaigning. More on that below. Just one thing in advance: theoretically, you would have to endure an infinite number of advertising emails prescribed by law!

In connection with that, a previous problem came back to mind at a completely different location. I had set up a Google MyBusiness account for my company back then. At the time, I thought it would bring something. Then I realized that this MyBusiness account first brings nothing and secondly even causes trouble. That's why I wanted to delete the account again. But Google refused this possibility.

Here's how I was able to solve both problems, which you'll soon find out. Maybe you're one of those people who let everything go or think that when you delete an email, the problem is solved. I'm not one of those kinds of people, but instead of just seeing problems where they are, I also look for solutions.

Forced preservation of election advertising via email

What sounds like a fairy tale is reality in Germany: Yes, you can be forced to receive election advertising by email. The law is, in my opinion, unlawful, but it's there anyway.

There is an IHK law (IHKG) in § 9 (6) IHKG:

Applicants and candidates for election to the full assembly according to § 5 may be transmitted by applicants and election advertising by candidates name, company, address, e-mail address and economic sector to voters from their respective electoral group, provided that the recipient of the data has committed themselves against the transmitting public body to process the data only for the purpose for which they were transmitted to him. Applicants and candidates have the transmitted data to be deleted immediately after the election is held.

Article 9, paragraph 6 of the International Humanitarian Law Guidelines

It is allegedly allowed that the IHK Wiesbaden sends my membership data including my email addresses to all candidates for the election to the plenary assembly. Likewise, the IHK Wiesbaden says it is also permitted for these candidates to use my email address to send me campaign mail via email. The same applies by post.

Election advertising by mail

I actually received an email with campaign advertising from one of the candidates. In this email several things stood out. These are the following things that will be documented here with hopefully anonymized screenshots from the campaign email:

The candidate describes the website of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) Wiesbaden as his own website. This is objectively incorrect. On the IHK website, the imprint shows that the website does not belong to the candidate. Similarly, the so-called "Cookie Popup" on the IHK website, which I incidentally consider to be unlawful, shows that the website belongs to IHK Wiesbaden.

By designating "IHK Wiesbaden: Service economy as small business", the impression is strengthened that it is a mail from IHK Wiesbaden. The same applies to the subject of the email, which reads:

North Rhine-Westphalia state election 2024, Fynn X

Subject of the promotional email.

Then follows the main text, where I have highlighted some interesting places in red.

The mail is according to §9 (6) IHKG only allowed for the purpose of election campaigning. However, it is written in the We-form here (see several marked places). Similarly, it is signed with "Candidate + Team of the Company".

In passing, it should be noted that the Sender's address is not a personalized address but rather a collective email address. When writing to this address, one receives an autoresponder from the Ltd., not signed by the candidate.

At the end of the email follows a company statement without mentioning the candidate. A Ltd.-imprint, if it is one, contains however besides the company name and address also the entry in the commercial register as well as the name of the managing director.

A candidate's email, on the other hand, contains no Ltd. imprint.

The mail was used via a service provider for newsletter delivery. The mail contained a Tracking Pixel. Apparently the candidate wants to know if I have read or opened the mail.

No Alternative?

Election advertising by mail is not necessary. Here's a comprehensive overview of the possibilities that the Chamber of Industry and Commerce currently uses to present the candidates:

1. IHK website with overview of all candidates: Very good, can stay. Don't bother anyone.
2. Election magazine by mail, together with election login: I don't have much against it, I'll just have to accept it.
3. Campaign advertising by candidates via email: Absolutely unnecessary and – I say – largely unlawful. Especially since there is no limit on the number of emails allowed.
4. Campaign advertising by candidates via mail: See 3, but not quite as unlawful. A contradiction possibility for me supposedly does not exist, which – I say – is sufficient for unlawfulness. Also there are no limits on the number of sent items here.

In total, the candidates also had sufficient advertising space with the first two publications. The IHK finds the idea interesting that candidates should present themselves in social media from the next election instead of sending campaign mail. I say: That's homoeopathically distributed scatter advertising without any effect.