CYBERLINKS

Web-site parody gets Bush reaction

By Patti Hartigan, Globe Staff, June 18, 1999

Zack Exley considers himself a rather dull fellow, a typical computer geek with a modest consulting practice and a "small, boring social life." The Somerville resident insists he just wanted to have a little fun when he bought a certain domain name and set up a Web site a few months ago. He never expected to incur the wrath of Washington legal eagles or to be called a "garbage man" by a well-named politician.

But now that his Web site has garnered national notoriety, Exley, 29, savors the spotlight. "I hope my 15 minutes aren't over yet," he says.

The Web site in question is www.gwbush.com, a parody of the official campaign site (www.georgewbush.com) for Texas governor George W. Bush, who announced his bid for the presidency last week. Political parody sites on the Web are as common as vanity sites and personal pages: They're usually frequented only by a small coterie of friends and fellow devotees. But the story of this particular site is a textbook example of a wrong-headed strategy for countering on-line critics and a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Internet works.

Back in December, Exley bought the domain name on a lark. A self-described mainstream centrist, he figured he might annoy Bush or make a few dollars selling the name back to the campaign, a popular practice known as "cyber-squatting." In April, Exley posted a mirror, or a copy, of the official Bush site on his page; the site went unnoticed in cyberspace until the Bush campaign sent him a cease-and-desist letter, accusing him of copyright infringement, among other things.

Exley took down the copy and posted material criticizing Bush. In May, the campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, contending that Exley is required to print a disclaimer and to file reports of expenditures to the commission. The candidate himself entered the fray a few weeks ago, saying "there ought to be limits to freedom" and castigating Exley as "a garbage man."

But in cyberspace, the slightest bit of attention can turn a nobody into a celebrity, a parody into a phenomenon. Last month alone, the site received more than 6 million hits, compared with a handful before the controversy erupted.

"It was thin-skinned, and it was also stupid," says Michael Cornfield, associate research professor at George Washington University who studies on-line politics. "All [Bush] did was get the site more attention. And now he has to account for that 'limits to freedom' statement."

Exley's site now describes Bush as "the only candidate with the courage to take on excessive freedom on the Internet."

The Bush campaign isn't backing down from its complaint. "The first thing he did was appropriate our graphics and our text; he ripped us off," says David Beckwith, communications manager for the campaign, who was in Boston Tuesday with the governor. "He is ignoring the election laws and the libel laws."

Ian Stirton, election commission spokesman, declined comment on the complaint, citing confidentiality. "New technology spurs questions, and I'm sure we'll get more and more of them," he says. Individuals who spend more than $250 advocating an election must file an expense letter with the commission.

Exley originally shelled out $70 for the domain name and about $20 a month to maintain the site. But his server costs have skyrocketed since the hoopla began, and he expects that the bill from his Internet service provider will put him well over the $250 limit; the same goes for lawyer fees. As such, he's representing himself.

But Exley may end up registering as a political committee in the end. He's now selling "Limits to freedom" T-shirts on the site and has received hundreds of e-mails from people who want to organize anti-Bush rallies during the campaign. They stayed away from the Park Plaza on Tuesday, when Bush was in town for his first official campaign tour. "The American people deserve a chance to hear what Bush has to say before I weigh in," Exley says.

Meanwhile, Beckwith insists that he and Bush don't lack the humor gene. "If you can't have fun in politics, what are you doing?" he says. "I'm all for a good parody site. We may well put one up on [Vice President Al] Gore." There already is a Gore parody site, at www.allgore.com. But it's unlikely that Gore will protest. He invented the Internet, after all.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum launched a Web site Wednesday, offering its archives to the on-line public for the first time. The debut of the site coincided with the groundbreaking ceremonies for the museum's new $47 million facility in Nashville. The site includes video and audio clips, as well as biographies of 69 members of the Hall of Fame, from Hank Williams to Willie Nelson and Uncle Dave Macon to Grandpa Jones. The archives are hosted at www.country.com, the site of CBS Cable networks TNN and CMT.