The battle for www.myspace.com/barackobama

[ProfJohn]

Very interesting story. Guy spends two years building up the page and creating a huge network of fans and then the politicians come in and take over.
I under stand why Obama wants control, but how much does this guy deserve in money for all the time and effort he has put into it?
I think the fact that they let him get away with it for so long should help if he takes them to court. In essence they approved of how he ran it for two years and then without cause they changed their mind.

Should this guy get paid for all his time and effort?
link

Is MySpace always mine or can it belong to someone else?
At the cost of losing 160,000 friends, Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign has taken over control of the MySpace page listed under his name on the popular social networking site.

For the past two and a half years, the page has been run by an Obama supporter from Los Angeles named Joe Anthony. At first, that arrangement was fine with the Obama team, which worked with Anthony on the content and even had the password to make changes themselves.

But as the site exploded in popularity in recent months, the campaign became concerned about an outsider having control of the content and responses going out under Obama's name and told Anthony they wanted him to turn it over.

In this new frontier of online campaigning, it's hard to determine the value of 160,000 MySpace friends?about four times what any other official campaign MySpace page has amassed. But the Obama campaign decided they wouldn't pay $39,000, which is what Anthony said he proposed for his extensive work on the site, plus some additional fees up to $10,000.

MySpace reluctantly stepped in to settle the dispute and decided that Obama should have the rights to control http://www.myspace.com/barackobama as of Monday night, while Anthony had the right to take the contact information for all the friends who signed up while he was in control. That includes the right to tell them exactly how he feels about the Obama campaign.

Anthony referred The Associated Press to his MySpace blog, where he has written that he is heartbroken that the Obama campaign was "bullying" him out of the page he built. He said the candidate has lost his vote.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is trying to rebuild his friends network from scratch and was up to more than 17,000 by midday Wednesday. "We support the MySpace community, and look forward to building our relationship," said campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

 

[dahunan]

That is BS.. Cheap jerks

barebackobama is the next page they should create and let him and John McCain make butt babies on the page

 

[RightIsWrong]

Considering that they are aware of all of the work that he put in and knowing that he isn't/wasn't just a squatter trying to make a buck for just registering a name.....

Pony up the dough. Save face and then just put a -$49,000 in with that +$25,000,000 on your campaign ledger.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

But does the guy have any "rights" to be using it in the first place?

I mean if it was BarackObama.com it'd be one thing, but it's myspace.

Surely as part of their TOS that any content posted becomes property of myspace. Or that they have the right to cease service to any particular member as they see fit.

Hell if they wanted they could have www.myspace.com/barackobama point to some GW Bush is Jesus incarnate on a whim if they wanted.

I don't know anything about myspace other than what people link in OT, do you have to pay to have a site or something if it's over a certain size? But if it's completely free, sounds like his argument is gonna be tougher than hobo pooh.

 

[ayabe]

If this guys name was Barack Obama he might have a case, but it isn't, myspace pages are free and the guy hasn't been paying anything to keep the site up. So he gets nothing IMHO. People still do this with URL's all the time, buy the domain on the day someone gets drafted into the NBA or the NFL, then try to extort money out of the person to have the rights to their name back.

MySpace is for retards, FYI.

 

[Mxylplyx]

That is bullsh!t. I hope after all the fallout from this that Barack Obama looks back and wishes to god that he had ponied up that 39K.

 

[Fern]

Hmm...

I'm starting to think Obama is a dumb@ss.

Forgetting the bad publicity, it was a financial blunder.

He lost 160K "friends" but saved $50k?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

He could've "purchased" them at 31 cents a peice (160,000 divided by $50k). Thats less than the price of a postage stamp, forget about the color campaign brochure etc.

So Obama "screws" a supporter who had been working for free, fires him essentially for no good cause, and steals his work.

Wonder how many votes he lost to keep his $50k?

Wonder if HRC and her campaign staff are smiling today?

Fern

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: Fern
Hmm...

I'm starting to think Obama is a dumb@ss.

Forgetting the bad publicity, it was a financial blunder.

He lost 160K "friends" but saved $50k?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

He could've "purchased" them at 31 cents a peice (160,000 divided by $50k). Thats less than the price of a postage stamp, forget about the color campaign brochure etc.

So Obama "screws" a supporter who had been working for free, fires him essentially for no good cause, and steals his work.

Wonder how many votes he lost to keep his $50k?

Wonder if HRC and her campaign staff are smiling today?

Fern

If this could prove that these 160K people were campaign contributors then fine, most are probably 16 and can't vote. That's how Myspace is.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx
That is bullsh!t. I hope after all the fallout from this that Barack Obama looks back and wishes to god that he had ponied up that 39K.

what fallout? nobody cares its a stupid myspace page not a domain name.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx
That is bullsh!t. I hope after all the fallout from this that Barack Obama looks back and wishes to god that he had ponied up that 39K.

what fallout? nobody cares its a stupid myspace page not a domain name.

Everyone should care that a politician can come and steal the creative work and efforts of a citizen of this country. It doesnt matter what it is, or how stupid you think MySpace is.

 

[Farang]

MySpace should have allowed him to keep the page and just changed its web address. Let Obama start from scratch with the /barackobama address.

 

[jpeyton]

It was probably 10,000 actual friends and 150,000 porn bots.

 

[umbrella39]

Wow, must be a slow news day.

:roll:

 

[1EZduzit]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx
That is bullsh!t. I hope after all the fallout from this that Barack Obama looks back and wishes to god that he had ponied up that 39K.

what fallout? nobody cares its a stupid myspace page not a domain name.

Everyone should care that a politician can come and steal the creative work and efforts of a citizen of this country. It doesnt matter what it is, or how stupid you think MySpace is.

He volunteered his time and now he's mad he didn't get paid and isn't going to vote for him??? LOL, whatever. It seems to me had had 2 years to bring the subject of being paid for his "creative" efforts.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: 1EZduzit

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx
That is bullsh!t. I hope after all the fallout from this that Barack Obama looks back and wishes to god that he had ponied up that 39K.

what fallout? nobody cares its a stupid myspace page not a domain name.

Everyone should care that a politician can come and steal the creative work and efforts of a citizen of this country. It doesnt matter what it is, or how stupid you think MySpace is.

He volunteered his time and now he's mad he didn't get paid and isn't going to vote for him??? LOL, whatever. It seems to me had had 2 years to bring the subject of being paid for his "creative" efforts.

You apparently dont understand what happened. This page was created and administered by a private citizen, independent of the Obama campaign. He started cooperating with the Obama campaign to manage it's content, but the site still belonged to him. It's when the Obama campaign wished to take full control of HIS site that HE created that the kid asked for compensation. Rather than pay the kid, they went through myspace and seized the site for themselves, so in essence stole it.

I cannot believe anyone here, so called champions for the people, would condone this.

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
It was probably 10,000 actual friends and 150,000 porn bots.

So true.

"hey thanks for the ad. I got a free iPod, click here and you can get one too."

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: 1EZduzit

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx
That is bullsh!t. I hope after all the fallout from this that Barack Obama looks back and wishes to god that he had ponied up that 39K.

what fallout? nobody cares its a stupid myspace page not a domain name.

Everyone should care that a politician can come and steal the creative work and efforts of a citizen of this country. It doesnt matter what it is, or how stupid you think MySpace is.

He volunteered his time and now he's mad he didn't get paid and isn't going to vote for him??? LOL, whatever. It seems to me had had 2 years to bring the subject of being paid for his "creative" efforts.

You apparently dont understand what happened. This page was created and administered by a private citizen, independent of the Obama campaign. He started cooperating with the Obama campaign to manage it's content, but the site still belonged to him. It's when the Obama campaign wished to take full control of HIS site that HE created that the kid asked for compensation. Rather than pay the kid, they went through myspace and seized the site for themselves, so in essence stole it.

I cannot believe anyone here, so called champions for the people, would condone this.

Ok and what gives this guy the right to use Obama's name? Nothing, it's basically a trademark when you are running for high public office. This guy was trying to extort money out of him, his name isn't Barack Obama. So where's the beef? If you think it takes hard work and talent to make 'friends' on myspace you don't know how it works.

This guys crappy page wouldn't have been as popular as it was if he wasn't using Obama's name. So perhaps he should pay Obama for making him feel important and making his mommy proud.

 

[1EZduzit]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: 1EZduzit

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx
That is bullsh!t. I hope after all the fallout from this that Barack Obama looks back and wishes to god that he had ponied up that 39K.

what fallout? nobody cares its a stupid myspace page not a domain name.

Everyone should care that a politician can come and steal the creative work and efforts of a citizen of this country. It doesnt matter what it is, or how stupid you think MySpace is.

He volunteered his time and now he's mad he didn't get paid and isn't going to vote for him??? LOL, whatever. It seems to me had had 2 years to bring the subject of being paid for his "creative" efforts.

You apparently dont understand what happened. This page was created and administered by a private citizen, independent of the Obama campaign. He started cooperating with the Obama campaign to manage it's content, but the site still belonged to him. It's when the Obama campaign wished to take full control of HIS site that HE created that the kid asked for compensation. Rather than pay the kid, they went through myspace and seized the site for themselves, so in essence stole it.

I cannot believe anyone here, so called champions for the people, would condone this.

From what I read, the site belongs to MySpace.com, not to the individual.

If he somehow had the impression or was hoping that he was going to make money off of it then he should have disscussed that with his contacts in the Obama camp. Obviously he had contact with them and opportunity to do so? He had 2 years to bring it up, why didn't he? Perhaps he thought the longer he waited the more it would be worth? I don't know? If it had been me I would have discussed that BEFORE putting so much effort into it.

Maybe he should have called it www.myspace.com/JoeAnthonyonBarrackObama? Then he would have been free to do with it as he wished.

Another opportunist bites the dust is all I see.

 

[waggy]

with this story my view of Obama has changed. I was for him but now going to rethink my stance.

while stealing the site is minor it does show what kind of person he is vs what he claims to be.

 

[OrByte]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx
That is bullsh!t. I hope after all the fallout from this that Barack Obama looks back and wishes to god that he had ponied up that 39K.

agreed. Isn't Obama raising all kinds of $$?

this is egg on his face in a not so small way!

 

[Arcex]

Originally posted by: Farang
MySpace should have allowed him to keep the page and just changed its web address. Let Obama start from scratch with the /barackobama address.

That's basically my opinion. I don't think this reflects badly on Obama, it reflects badly on the state of American politics. I think you all missed something:

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
...as the site exploded in popularity in recent months, the campaign became concerned about an outsider having control of the content and responses going out under Obama's name and told Anthony they wanted him to turn it over.

Clearly Obama had no problem with him running it over the last 2 years, its unlikely he woke up one day and changed his mind. More likely his campaign staff recognized the potential damage to the campaign it could cause if this guy was replying to people and making statements in Obama's name. I think it's a shame that they had to do this, but I do see it as something they had to do to avoid a potentially worse incident. Like I said, it's a shame American politics has come to this.

 

[Farang]

Originally posted by: waggy
with this story my view of Obama has changed. I was for him but now going to rethink my stance.

while stealing the site is minor it does show what kind of person he is vs what he claims to be.

Agreed. I'll give him a chance to fix it though since it could have just been his handlers.

In a somewhat related topic, I got an amusing e-mail from his campaign today. It started off saying how people were sick of politics and that has left a vacuum that lobbyists and special interests have taken over. Then in maybe the sixth of seventh sentence, he says giving money to him will fix the problem. These politicians really come off as scam artists sometimes.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: waggy
with this story my view of Obama has changed. I was for him but now going to rethink my stance.

while stealing the site is minor it does show what kind of person he is vs what he claims to be.

It's his name and likeness.

I could see if the guy had the site in his own name but it's Obama's name.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: waggy
with this story my view of Obama has changed. I was for him but now going to rethink my stance.

while stealing the site is minor it does show what kind of person he is vs what he claims to be.

It's his name and likeness.

I could see if the guy had the site in his own name but it's Obama's name.

If someone created a myspace page in your name, and you wanted to take control of it, myspace would tell you to take a hike. Not that I've ever used myspace, but I've never heard of a policy that states someone is entitled to the myspace page with their name. MySpace just made this policy up when "your heroes" wanted it. Oh yeah, "your hero" MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News. Why do you hate America?

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: waggy
with this story my view of Obama has changed. I was for him but now going to rethink my stance.

while stealing the site is minor it does show what kind of person he is vs what he claims to be.

It's his name and likeness.

I could see if the guy had the site in his own name but it's Obama's name.

If someone created a myspace page in your name, and you wanted to take control of it, myspace would tell you to take a hike. Not that I've ever used myspace, but I've never heard of a policy that states someone is entitled to the myspace page with their name. MySpace just made this policy up when "your heroes" wanted it. Oh yeah, "your hero" MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News. Why do you hate America?

Yes but Dave isn't a household name running for high office, not yet anyways. As I intimated earlier, Obama is now basically a trademark, just like Rudy and Hillary.

Obama wants direct control of the message being produced in his name, he has that right.