Dirty Online Campaigning?
Candidate Uses Net as Weapon Against Incumbent Opponent
By Jim Goldman, Tech Live Silicon Valley Bureau Chief
F R E M O N T, Calif., Sept. 11 — Saying "the Web is crucial" in today's political campaigns, California Assembly candidate Dan Dow has an official Web site: Dandow.com.
But he's also registered the URLs JohnDutra.com, JohnDutra.net and JohnDutra.org. And incumbent Assemblyman John Dutra — Dan Dow's opponent in the upcoming election for California's 20th District — is none too pleased that his name is being used against him in the campaign.
"Unethical, amoral, and totally inappropriate," said two-term Democrat Dutra. "I was shocked. It was Machiavellian. It was 'ends justifies the means' politics."
Using His Name Against Him
"We were surprised that John Dutra hadn't purchased that domain," Dow said incredulously.
Interested voters happening by JohnDutra.com may expect to see platform positions from the candidate and his record as a state legislator — in other words, key information about the Dutra campaign. Instead, the site, owned and operated by Dutra's opponent, slams him on all sorts of issues.
"Numerous people have told us they think it's funny and it shows that he's out of touch with the technology of the times," said Dow, a Republican.
Which brings up the following issue: How could the Dutra campaign not have registered its candidate's name on the Net?
Dutra himself freely admits it was an oversight, that he was "naive" and never thought someone would "sink to the level" of stealing his name. As far as answering the charge that he's "out of touch," Dutra, who still does not have a campaign Web site, points to the fact that he was once named the American Electronics Association Legislator of the Year and once chaired the state's Committee on Information Technology.
Legal Question
Meanwhile, while federal and state laws tend to prevent cybersquatting, the language of those laws is murky. As an example, California's state cybersquatting law says the practice is illegal only if the cybersquatter has "bad faith intent."
Dutra says that alone makes Dow "clearly in violation of the law."
Dow, of course, disagrees, calling his JohnDutra.com site "educational," and adding that "I find it my responsibility to tell the voters exactly what Mr. Dutra's record is."
But the court of public opinion is already weighing in on the matter. A San Jose Mercury News editorial called Dow "clever," but still questioned his "juvenile hijinks."
Dow is undeterred: "Will people think this is over the top? Some may."
That includes Dutra himself, who says he hopes voters recognize a cheap shot when they see one. And if he wins, he says he will make it a top priority to strengthen California's cybersquatting laws. "I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure this behavior not only is not condoned," Dutra said, "but clearly illegal with some stiff penalties."
Accusations of cybersquatting against political candidates is not new. Other examples include:
A parody site of California Gov. Gray Davis, www.egray.org, launched by opponent Bill Simon (Because it mimics eBay in look, the online auctioneer is threatening a lawsuit.)
A parody site of President Bush, www.gwbush.com, which mocked Bush's official campaign site (After the site was launched, the Bush campaign launched a pre-emptive strike by buying up domain names including bushsucks.net and bushsucks.org.)
~~~~~~~
An interesting new twist on "dirty" politics. It sounds like the laws of the land haven't changed quickly enough to keep up with rapidly changing technology and its ramifications on political campaigning.
Candidate Uses Net as Weapon Against Incumbent Opponent
By Jim Goldman, Tech Live Silicon Valley Bureau Chief
F R E M O N T, Calif., Sept. 11 — Saying "the Web is crucial" in today's political campaigns, California Assembly candidate Dan Dow has an official Web site: Dandow.com.
But he's also registered the URLs JohnDutra.com, JohnDutra.net and JohnDutra.org. And incumbent Assemblyman John Dutra — Dan Dow's opponent in the upcoming election for California's 20th District — is none too pleased that his name is being used against him in the campaign.
"Unethical, amoral, and totally inappropriate," said two-term Democrat Dutra. "I was shocked. It was Machiavellian. It was 'ends justifies the means' politics."
Using His Name Against Him
"We were surprised that John Dutra hadn't purchased that domain," Dow said incredulously.
Interested voters happening by JohnDutra.com may expect to see platform positions from the candidate and his record as a state legislator — in other words, key information about the Dutra campaign. Instead, the site, owned and operated by Dutra's opponent, slams him on all sorts of issues.
"Numerous people have told us they think it's funny and it shows that he's out of touch with the technology of the times," said Dow, a Republican.
Which brings up the following issue: How could the Dutra campaign not have registered its candidate's name on the Net?
Dutra himself freely admits it was an oversight, that he was "naive" and never thought someone would "sink to the level" of stealing his name. As far as answering the charge that he's "out of touch," Dutra, who still does not have a campaign Web site, points to the fact that he was once named the American Electronics Association Legislator of the Year and once chaired the state's Committee on Information Technology.
Legal Question
Meanwhile, while federal and state laws tend to prevent cybersquatting, the language of those laws is murky. As an example, California's state cybersquatting law says the practice is illegal only if the cybersquatter has "bad faith intent."
Dutra says that alone makes Dow "clearly in violation of the law."
Dow, of course, disagrees, calling his JohnDutra.com site "educational," and adding that "I find it my responsibility to tell the voters exactly what Mr. Dutra's record is."
But the court of public opinion is already weighing in on the matter. A San Jose Mercury News editorial called Dow "clever," but still questioned his "juvenile hijinks."
Dow is undeterred: "Will people think this is over the top? Some may."
That includes Dutra himself, who says he hopes voters recognize a cheap shot when they see one. And if he wins, he says he will make it a top priority to strengthen California's cybersquatting laws. "I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure this behavior not only is not condoned," Dutra said, "but clearly illegal with some stiff penalties."
Accusations of cybersquatting against political candidates is not new. Other examples include:
A parody site of California Gov. Gray Davis, www.egray.org, launched by opponent Bill Simon (Because it mimics eBay in look, the online auctioneer is threatening a lawsuit.)
A parody site of President Bush, www.gwbush.com, which mocked Bush's official campaign site (After the site was launched, the Bush campaign launched a pre-emptive strike by buying up domain names including bushsucks.net and bushsucks.org.)
~~~~~~~
An interesting new twist on "dirty" politics. It sounds like the laws of the land haven't changed quickly enough to keep up with rapidly changing technology and its ramifications on political campaigning.
