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Wed 12 Jan, 2005 02:54 pm
In anticipation of a run for governor by Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, the Massachusetts Republican Party has pre-emptively registered website addresses that Reilly could have used as a campaign website. Despite the fact that Reilly has not said whether he will run for governor in 2006, the state republican party has registered several domain names, such as reillyforgovernor.com, with the intent "to have some fun if he is indeed the nominee."
Quote:Mass. Republicans Launch Pre-Emptive Web Strike
Mon Jan 10, 2005
By Greg Frost
BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Republicans have launched a pre-emptive strike against Democratic Attorney General Tom Reilly by snapping up online Internet addresses that would have been obvious picks for him if he decides to run for governor in 2006.
Reilly has not yet said whether he will challenge Republican Governor Mitt Romney in 2006. But if Reilly does run, it will be hard for him to use the Web sites reillyforgovernor.com, tomreillyforgovernor.com, reillyforgovernor2006.com and reillyforgovernor06.com.
That's because the state Republican Party registered those domain names last week, the Boston Herald newspaper reported on Monday.
"It was bought with the intention to have some fun if he is indeed the nominee," Tim O'Brien, executive director of the state party, told the Herald.
Reilly advisers said the Republicans' Internet maneuvering appeared premature, given that the Democratic attorney general has not yet announced his candidacy.
Susan Crawford, an expert in Internet law at New York's Cardozo Law School, said the Republicans' move seemed to be a new twist on the practice of cybersquatting.
A term that originated in the 1990s, when the Internet was catching on, cybersquatting refers to the act of reserving a particular domain name for the purpose of selling it at a higher price. Celebrities and corporations have typically been victims of cybersquatting schemes.
Crawford said she could not recall another instance of one political party registering domain names for a potential rival, although she noted that before he ran for president in 2000, then-Gov. George W. Bush of Texas complained of a parody site that used his name.
Crawford said Reilly still has several options available should he decide to run for governor.
She noted the number of possible domains has expanded in recent years with the advent of new Web suffixes like .info, .biz and .us.
Reilly also could dispute the Republicans' move through arbitration, Crawford said. However, the cost of doing so is likely to be far greater than the $6 to $9 fee for registering a new domain name.
"He definitely has options, but he may not want to waste his money," she told Reuters.
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While I'm sure our conservative friends will howl, I want to go on the record as saying that this is how the game is being played now. Right now in my state, Washington, the Republicans are doing every thing they can to subvert the election of a Democratic governor.
This is how Karl Rove plays the game, and why not? It worked in Florida in 2000. Do whatever it takes to win: both before, during and after a campaign.
So the liberals/democrats in Washington State are
not doing everything
they can to win?
Sometimes, really only sometimes, I think, elections could have to do a bit with politics.
Even in the USA.
But obviously is mostly a strategic kindergarden-sandbox game.
Gangsters... they're damned gangsters.
This is a standard tactic in MA politics lately. You don't even have to be running for a high profile office.
If someone thinks you might run for public office you can bet 15 people will be out there registering domain names that they think you might want to use.
The same thing was done by State level Democrats against Mitt Romney when he ran.
McGentrix wrote:So the liberals/democrats in Washington State are
not doing everything
they can to win?
The "liberals/democrats" did win, as the Sec'y of State in WA, a Republican, has acknowledged. It's time for the the losers to be gracious and accept defeat...
D'artagnan wrote:McGentrix wrote:So the liberals/democrats in Washington State are
not doing everything
they can to win?
The "liberals/democrats" did win, as the Sec'y of State in WA, a Republican, has acknowledged. It's time for the the losers to be gracious and accept defeat...
I've been saying that about another election for four years now. Good luck with that.
That's it. I'm registering "rudygiuliani.com" right now!
I just registered kickycan2008.com. Do you want to talk?
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