On March 27, a website name was registered using a variant of our NJEA.org website name. On March 28, a hostile disinformation site went up using the “spoofed” website name. The purpose of this anti-NJEA website, which incorporates our name and trademarks, is to post radically anti-public education messages and falsehoods about NJEA and NEA. The site advertised itself on Google in order to draw traffic by pretending to be a pro-education, anti-Christie site. The purpose was obviously to draw unsuspecting members and supporters to see a negative message in order to drive a wedge between them and NJEA. It featured, among other things, a made-up set of talking points from an imaginary NJEA spokesman urging members to "use children" to advance their own cause.
The site was registered anonymously, in order to make it more difficult to track the site operator. Since yesterday morning, we have succeeded in forcing Google to stop others from using NJEA trademarked materials in advertisements. The site is still online, in a different format, and it is still using "NJEA" in its name. We continue to pursue all avenues to force the site operator to stop using NJEA’s name or any images which would mislead the public into believing that it is affiliated in any way with NJEA. We are pursuing available legal recourse against the site operator.
We are intentionally not providing a link to the site because we do not wish to drive any additional traffic or attention to it, which might grant it an appearance of legitimacy. However, we wanted to make you aware of it in case you get questions from members, or hear about it from other sources. It also serves as a warning to everyone who operates a website to be careful about what else is available online. If the opponents of public education are willing to stoop to this level of dishonesty, we should expect that there are likely to be more dirty tricks of this type. Be alert, and if you see anything suspicious online, please let NJEA know immediately.
