The Battle Over ObamaSpace
By the time Obama's run for the White House kicked off, Anthony's page had tens of thousands friends (not to mention the highly desirable 'www.myspace.com/barackobama' address). Rather than start from scratch, Camp Obama simply threw its lot in with Anthony's. And when MySpace launched its politically-themed Impact Channel to feature each of the candidates' official profiles, the Obama people opted to use Anthony's volunteer-built page as their representation.
But then Anthony asked to be compensated in some way for his work on the profile . . .
The campaign deliberated on whether to hire Anthony, take him on as a consultant, or simply to buy him out. It chose to buy him out, but when the "How much?" conversation rolled around, Anthony asked for in excess of $40,000. Having none of that, the campaign shifted into hostile takeover mode and asked MySpace to cut off Anthony's access to the site. MySpace complied, citing that the official content posted on the page and the URL gave Senator Obama rights to the profile.
But not so fast. Instead of simply handing over Anthony's page to the campaign, MySpace forced Obama to start fresh -- instantly slashing the friend list from 160,000 to zero. (In three days, the campaign had reconnected with more than 20,000.)
As for Anthony, he can have his profile and friends back once he settles on a new URL.
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From techPresident via Slashdot
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fred Wildman @ May 5th 2007 12:58PM
It doesn't matter. Obama will be forgotten.
FRED THOMPSON will be our next president
Fred Wildman @ May 5th 2007 1:01PM
What is my password?
Amanda @ Jul 26th 2007 12:44AM
Fred Thompson 2008!!