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The 2nd referendum "petition" is wide open to fraud

The UK Parliament online petition for a second referendum, currently containing upwards of a million alleged signatures is open to almost unlimited fraud, and likely worthless.
Although we might assume such a potentially significant petition would be subject to at least basic checks on identity to prevent fake identities and duplication, one of our own frequent researchers can confirm this is not true, and he has sent us the screen caps to prove it.
The researcher, who does live in the UK, signed the petition twice today, within minutes, from the same computer, using fake names and email addresses designed for the purpose. The only test of his ID was a simple checkbox that asked if he was a UK citizen. He was not asked to provide a street address, or any proof of ID. He gave two different – and false – postcodes, one in Manchester and one in the West Country. This is a screen shot of the two confirmatory email he received after each of these attempts…
Screen-Shot-2016-06-25-at-13.36.46x
He apparently made no attempt to conceal what he was doing. He did not use a proxy IP or any other means to cloak his origins. He tells us even the names he used were blatantly fabricated. Yet as you can see they were both accepted without question.
It seems that all you need in order to be eligible to sign this petition is access to the internet. You can sign up as many times as you like, with as many names as you like, and the only limit is how many fake email addresses you can be bothered to create.
This raises obvious questions about the alleged “thousands” or even “millions” of signatures claimed in outlets such as the BBC and the Guardian. It’s reasonable to ask how many of these alleged signatories were verified as real people, and reasonable to assume, on what we know so far, that none of them have been. it’s also reasonable to ask why no journalists at the Beeb or Graun are asking these questions.
Our independent experiment seems to offer some support to the ongoing open source investigations in various places online, all of which raise serious doubts about the nature of and intent behind this petition.
Interesting times…

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Filed under: Brexit, latest
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Paul Robson
Paul Robson
Jun 27, 2016 9:36 AM

You don’t need to create email addresses. If you own a domain, say scam.com you can set up email to any scam.com email to redirect to another address. Hence you can create as many as you want

Catte
Catte
Jun 27, 2016 10:15 AM
Reply to  Paul Robson

indeed you can. Plus there are scripts available to “create” thousands of temp email addresses and automatically reply to the confirmatory emails.

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Jun 27, 2016 1:36 AM

Having another referendum because the first one came up with a result that didn’t suit the “Rich”, is like replaying a Premier League football game because the rich owners of the club didn’t like being beaten be a team that scored more goals……………

The Gordian Knot
The Gordian Knot
Jun 26, 2016 10:39 PM

Many on social media are claiming that the amendment in the rules of the EU referendum called for in the petition can’t be implemented since retroactive amendment of legislation has no legal basis. Can anyone verify if this is true?. I conducted a brief search and found that it appears retroactive legislation could potentially be applied through the principle of ‘Parlimentary Supremacy’, or a body such as the House of Lords acting as a ‘Superior Court’?. I’m aware that the referendum it’s self is voluntary, not binary, and as such could be over-ruled by Parliment but could these rules be retroactively enforced?.
With division in both the Conservative and Labour Parties and the mounting pressure on Jeremy Corbyn to step down might we see a snap General election called before article 50 is implemented?. Further, If Labour were to get voted in might we see a pro EU faction attempt to drive through a second EU referendum.

C. Spangle
C. Spangle
Jun 26, 2016 3:01 PM

Oh, flew in from Liberia Beach D.O.A.
Got to a hospital bed last night
All the way this ebola bug was in my pee
Man I was a dreadful sight
I’m back in the E.U.S.S.R.
You don’t know how lucky you are… boy
Back in the EU, back in the EU,
Back in the E.U.S.S.R.
Those great debts really knock me out
They kick the West’s behind
Angela’s blubbery cellulite is hanging out
That EU troika is always on my, my, my mind
Take me to Carpathian Mountains way down South
Let me foreclose your daddy’s farm
All the way the bankers’ hands are reaching out
Come and grease your comrade’s palm
I’m back in the E.U.S.S.R.
You don’t know how lucky you are… boy
Back in the EU, back in the EU,
Back in the E.U.S.S.R.

sean55
sean55
Jun 26, 2016 2:41 PM

A joke – full of fake signatures from god knows where.
I can see it now. “Err, hang on Mr Juncker sir, we’re thinking of having a re-run as the referendum somewhat clashed with Glastonbury and taking selfies for twitter and snapchat and to be honest, we weren’t fully aware of it’s significance…like.”
“Ooops, soo sorry… just a bit longer, it’s tied at one all and now we’re having a best of three.”
Try this and millions will march on parliament. Like the poll tax riots, only a hundred times bigger. Anger and civil unrest like you wouldn’t believe.

joekano76
joekano76
Jun 26, 2016 1:05 PM

Reblogged this on TheFlippinTruth.

edwdwdw
edwdwdw
Jun 26, 2016 2:14 AM

http://pastebin.com/rgiiPbww
This Petition spammer works.
Look at the JSON data – Vatican City has over 11,000 signatures just for fun (population of 800) https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215.json
Fraud is rife

Meep (@AltRightVegan)
Meep (@AltRightVegan)
Jun 26, 2016 1:58 AM

i signed a petition to have 23rd as a holiday and they sent me an email to confirm and i did. Then they sent me another email to confirm my name on the 2nd eu ref petition! I didnt even put my email in this petition. They sent me the email illegally in hope i would click the link..its a scam and its disgusting! They use emails illegally!

Stu73
Stu73
Jun 26, 2016 4:45 PM

Someone’s signed up using your email and details in the hope you’d click the link thus validating the signature on the petition. Another dirty trick.

Jenny
Jenny
Jun 26, 2016 1:34 AM

I just voted from California. Anyone can vote if they lie about being a UK resident. I found a nice postal code from the Cotswolds in a couple seconds. It’s silly. Why are people taking this seriously?

Meep (@AltRightVegan)
Meep (@AltRightVegan)
Jun 26, 2016 2:05 AM
Reply to  Jenny

because it will be sent to Parliament to consider. It is serious

Jenny
Jenny
Jun 26, 2016 5:48 PM

I am specifically talking about the online petition, which is obviously full of invalid signatures. If they collect 3 million verified signatures by hand, THEN it should be taken seriously. This online petition is a joke.

Norman Pilon
Norman Pilon
Jun 27, 2016 6:14 AM
Reply to  Jenny

Actually, Jenny, this just speaks to the highly democratic character of Britain and its establishment. It (they, the rich, the Bank of England, the Corporation of British Industry, etc.,) know that whatever policies they decide to implement, be it domestic or foreign, it affects people globally. Therefore, being the good democrats that they are, they thought, “why not let everybody have their say, even the North Koreans?” So there ‘we’ have it. Personally, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. It’s not as if this petition will be binding on parliament, and certainly no more than the referendum was. But at least it was democratically more inclusive than the referendum was, all in the spirit of international togetherness and peace and love and all of that . . .

elenits
elenits
Jun 26, 2016 12:29 AM

Moon of Alabama, a German in Germany, signed in 30 seconds

Jo
Jo
Jun 25, 2016 11:42 PM

They weed them out afterwards. It happened with the Trump one. You will see periods where it goes down dramatically. Breitbart did that too so another group tried it and went back and noticed the numbers went down not up

Nuid
Nuid
Jun 25, 2016 10:45 PM

This petition is a con-job. How can anyone or any Government “implement” a rule that doesn’t exist?? They’d have to make the rule first and then “implement” it — for future referendums. It would have no effect at all on the current situation, and certainly wouldn’t trigger a second referendum.

mahatmacoatmabag
mahatmacoatmabag
Jun 25, 2016 10:20 PM

I see that the well funded Project Fear campaign has launched its counter-offensive with an on-line petition for a 2nd referendum . I have news for the Remainiac traitors , Hitler rolled the dice & gambled on the Ardennes offensive ( the Battle of the Bulge ) saving Germany from losing the war , threw in all of Germanys reserves of tanks, planes & artillery but lost because it was already too late to win the war. The Remainiac desperate offensive will fail in similar fashion because its too late the UK Independence train has left the station !.

Richard Le Sarcophage
Richard Le Sarcophage
Jun 26, 2016 12:54 AM

The parasites and wannabe parasites have UTTER contempt for the serfs, particularly when they disobey orders. They’ll just demand referendum after referendum until the vermin get it ‘right’. Or, like Greece, simply ignore ‘democracy’ (in its ‘home’) with vicious disdain.

Salvo Grixti
Salvo Grixti
Jun 26, 2016 7:17 PM

Quit the rhetoric already. Your calling a little less then half the british population traitors. The majoriety of scots and a huge portion of NI especially. The European’s view us as traitors too. The Scots could equally view us as traitors considering one of the main reasons they chose to remain was fear of being out of the EU. Be thankful they are fairly undecieded at the moment. A woman I knew from NI is pissed, because it will have huge reppecusions there. IRA anyone? What will demonising anyone achieve at this point do? People voted to leave, which I didn’t want due to instability in the world economy. My anger has gone now however. It won’t do anyone any good but further divide the country and cause instability. I’m sick of the pissing contests.

Mick McNulty
Mick McNulty
Jun 25, 2016 9:58 PM

If many of us had not taken our own pens what would have been the numbers then? A lot of us believe they still tried to rig it but the numbers were just too big to rig, so the vote difference of 4% or 1,000,000+ would actually be larger. The declared turnout of 72% seems rather low for such a monumental event – I’d have thought 80%+ – and whatever the difference between the real percentage or numbers, there’s the rig. Our pens may have made the difference.

Ian F
Ian F
Jun 26, 2016 12:27 AM
Reply to  Mick McNulty

You can mark a ballot paper with anything you want, pencil, pen, crayon even blood (as long as it is your own) As a Presiding Officer, I can assure you that there is no way the actual ballot can be rigged. The ballot box is shown to be empty at the start of the poll. It is sealed with four numbered seals, and another numbered seal is affixed at the end of the poll. Any sign of tampering is easily spotted as the seals have to be completely destroyed to open the box at the count.

steve
steve
Jun 26, 2016 4:41 AM
Reply to  Ian F

And replaced with identical seals…

fleur de Lis
fleur de Lis
Jun 26, 2016 12:41 PM
Reply to  Ian F

There were many cases when people hace been spotted either rubbing out, hiding the wrong vote into the ‘preferred vote’ pile, ballot boxes going missing etc…it would be foolish to even think that the voting system isnt rigged at some points.

Nick C
Nick C
Jun 25, 2016 6:31 PM

The comments regarding the nature of the request in this petition are missing the point – it is clearly a proxy for what people would really like to say. It is simply that this petition has been publicised and people are employing it to vent their frustration with what has been done to them.
Regarding the number and validity of the votes – I would hope that the IP addresses of the voters have been stored with the votes (this would be a pretty basic provision) so it should be possible to retrospectively examine these and invalidate more than (say) five votes per IP address. It may also be possible for the government to advise if there is any evidence of fraud which would undermine the efforts of anyone who is hijacking it.
Another thought is that if there is any hijacking going on it could be either side doing it, of course. Either way this is a wake-up call for the government to take steps to reduce the opportunity to hijack the petitions.

OffG Editor
OffG Editor
Jun 25, 2016 10:32 PM
Reply to  Nick C

If they were going to eliminate more than a certain number of repeat IP addresses they could run a bit of code that did that at source. Though given the prevalence of dynamic IPs that wouldn’t be very fair or effective. But it’s child’s play to prevent duplicate signatories. If they aren’t doing it, they don’t want to do it.

Roger
Roger
Jun 25, 2016 4:24 PM

Fishy how the petition is growing at over 10,000 votes every 5 minutes. Was 1.709,000 at 15.12 and now, at 15.18, it stands at over 1.731,000.
I suggest somebody start a petition requesting the government NOT to apply rules retroactively in this context (or any other!). We can sit back and watch the numbers grow. Unfortunately I live abroad, and don’t have the 5 required british correspondents available to start things rolling.

Roger
Roger
Jun 25, 2016 4:00 PM

The petition does not call for a 2nd referendum, but for a new rule on voting and turn-out numbers which would lead to a new referendum. I can’t see how the government ( temporary anyway, as Slimy Dave has stepped down ) could dare to implement this new rule retroactively, as requested by this petition, without a massive explosion of public anger.

Toxteth O'Grady (@Tocky_Teck)
Toxteth O'Grady (@Tocky_Teck)
Jun 26, 2016 11:45 AM
Reply to  Roger

It calls for a change to the rules for LAST WEEK’s referendum, somewhat after the evnt.

Willem
Willem
Jun 25, 2016 3:32 PM

Having a second referendum, because you did not like the result of the first referendum is like doing a scientific experiment with, say, a new drug in a mouse model to see if the drug has potential side effects, which kills the mouse. No problem, just perform a second experiment on a different mouse and throw the dead mouse away, as if this mouse never existed. Continue with this experiment until your wished outcome, i.e. a mouse that was not killed or otherwise harmed by the drug, turns out. Next, advertise this drug as something which has no serious side effects in mice.
If a scientist would run an experiment as cited above, newspapers would (correctly) call this researcher a fraud. But when politicians do it, it apparantly is worth a try.

Willem
Willem
Jun 25, 2016 3:48 PM
Reply to  Willem

Or even worse: you change the outcome, because you did not like the outcome…
I may have been wrong in assuming that this petition was made by politicians. Turns out that someone called: William Oliver Healy started the petition, who I tried to Google, but couldn’t find..

Richard Le Sarcophage
Richard Le Sarcophage
Jun 26, 2016 1:06 AM
Reply to  Willem

Yet more proof that ‘democracy’, in any meaningful sense, and Free Market capitalism are utterly antithetical, and that ‘Divide and Rule’ tactics (the latest the fomenting of inter-generational hatred)still work a treat.

HsiWanMu
HsiWanMu
Jun 26, 2016 3:20 AM
Reply to  Willem

I hate to break it to you but that’s how it’s done in science as well, at least as far as drugs go in industry-funded trials. For more information on that, just look at what Dr Marcia Angell has to say about that. This is just one example, there are many more. Look up the ‘replication crisis’. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/01/15/drug-companies-doctorsa-story-of-corruption/

2catlady
2catlady
Jun 25, 2016 3:13 PM

This is potentially true of all these government petitions. Why are you only bringing it up now?

Editor
Editor
Jun 25, 2016 4:30 PM
Reply to  2catlady

umm…because we’re talking about this one in particular and not “all these” other ones?

Norman Pilon
Norman Pilon
Jun 25, 2016 2:56 PM

. . . hilarious times!