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GOP Debuts URL Shortener, Already Suffering (Awkward) Consequences

by Terrence O'Brien on December 18, 2009 at 10:10 AM

GOP Debuts URL Shortener, Already Suffering Consequences
You'd think the world had enough URL shortening services at this point -- TinyURL, Bit.ly, is.gd, twurl, tr.im, Digg, Facebook, Google, the New York Times -- it seems like everyone is getting down on downsizing. The GOP, seeing the latest trend sweeping across the series of tubes, decided now was the time to hop on the bandwagon and launch its own link shrinking service.

GOP.AM sports an admittedly wonderful tag line, "making long URLs conservative," and has already found itself the target of Internet pranksters. Surfers with mischievous streaks immediately began using the service to link to sites such as the American Communist Party, a sex toy in the likeness of Barack Obama, and, of course, porn. The service began blocking such links, and was even shut down for a brief period of time after the launch to clear out the offending material, but since much of the filtering is being performed manually, Political Media, the company that built the service, has had trouble keeping up with the deluge.

Political Media president Larry Ward told Wired that the company was working on an automated filter that would be in place soon, but it's clear that Ward is being a little short-sighted. Determined Internet tricksters will likely be able to overwhelm filters or find ways around them. Give it a week before GOP.AM is either shut down completely or simply a forgotten ruin stuffed full of videos. [From: Wired]

Tags: funny, gop, politics, top, URL shortener, UrlShortener

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