Hacker raises Bush's hackles

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.upside.com/News/39f74caa0.html

Upside New England
October 26, 2000 12:00 AM PT
by Geoffrey James

BOSTON -- Al Gore might not have invented the Internet, but George W.
Bush has a track record of completely misunderstanding the power of
the Web. Bush's ineptitude in this area emerged early in the campaign,
when Massachusetts resident Zack Exley posted a satirical website
that, among other things, contained a faked-up picture of Bush
snorting cocaine.

Political satire is a major New England tradition, but Exley wasn't
thinking about that when he noticed in April 1999 that the Bush
campaign had foolishly neglected to reserve www.gwbush.com. (Bush
mistake No. 1.) Exley quickly reserved the name, made it a copy of the
official Bush website and added a few cosmetic changes -- such as
turning "Paid for By the Bush for President Campaign" into "Paid for
by Filthy Rich Texas Oilmen."

Exley's motives were more a matter of jest than of politics. "I
thought it would be fun to try to confuse a national election
committee," he explains. Satirical websites, of course, aren't exactly
uncommon. For example, for the past few years www.whitehouse.com has
been the URL of a pornography site featuring members-only areas like
"Hollywood Hooters" and "Teen Buffet." Clinton, unlike Bush, evidently
knows when it's wiser to let sleeping sites lie. Bush wasn't so savvy.

Soon after Exley populated his site, the Bush campaign responded by
sending him a "cease and desist" letter complaining about the use of
their content. (Bush mistake No. 2.) Having displayed the stick, they
then held out the carrot and asked whether Exley would consider
selling the website. (Bush mistake No. 3.) Exley, annoyed at the
strong-arm tactic of the cease and desist letter, asked for $350,000.
"I was just yanking their chain," he says. "I would have taken a few
hundred dollars for it."

Wouldn't give up

Bush responded by attacking Exley personally at a May 21 news
conference in Austin, Texas, calling him a "garbage man" (he's
actually a freelance programmer) and saying "there ought to be limits
on freedom." (Bush mistake No. 4.)

You'd think that Bush would have learned his lesson, but Bush then
asked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to declare the Exley's
site a political action committee, which would make it subject to
federal regulation. (Bush mistake No. 5.) That would mean Exley -- who
was pretty much your average semi-employed hacker -- would have to
spend thousands of dollars on bureaucratic red tape.

Predictably, Bush came out looking like a bully trying to squelch free
speech, resulting in coverage of Exley's site in USA Today and the New
York Times.

The Bush campaign then tried to spin the story, claiming the site
contained links to pornography. (Bush mistake No. 6.) That accusation,
however, turned out to be false; the links the campaign cited were to
parody sites that contained no graphic images. To make matters worse,
it's not clear whether Exley's page ever contained those links in the
first place. "The Bush campaign knows I never linked to pornographic
sites," says Exley. "It's slander."

The result of all this free publicity was that George W. transformed
www.gwbush.com from a minor annoyance into one of the most heavily
visited sites on the Web. Exley seems a bit bemused by the fuss. "I
never wanted to be some sort of free-speech hero," he says.

However, once Bush had (in Exley's opinion) shown his true colors, he
considered it his duty to point out not only the allegations of drug
usage in Bush's past, but the governor's dubious war record, as well
as his acceptance to Yale and Harvard Business School despite bad
grades.

"At first I just thought the most I could get out of this was a good
story to tell my friends and maybe a couple hundred dollars," says
Exley. "But now that Bush has turned my site into one of the most
popular political publications on the Web, I feel I have a
responsibility to tell the truth about the guy."

Whether or not you agree with Exley's assessment of Bush, it's
interesting to see that the candidate was so completely unaware of the
dynamics of Web marketing. If Bush had played it cool, his campaign
could have picked up the site for a pittance. As it was, Bush might as
well have been seen wearing a T-shirt with Exley's URL on it.

For what it's worth, here are a list of satirical sites that didn't
have the benefit of Bush's personal attention:

Bushoncrack.com
GWBush Art
Unauthorized Bush (Sr.) Bio
Bush is the Antichrist
The Bush Body Count
GeorgeBush2000.com
LittleGeorgeBush.com
BushCampaignHQ.com
Bushlite.net
GeorgyBush.com
BushSuckz.com
Bushsucks.com

And, while we're at it, let's not forget the other guy:

AllGore.com
NoGore.org
Algore-2000.org
GoreWatch.net

And, hey, don't forget to vote!


*==============================================================*
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