November 30, 1999
THE American presidential contender
George W. Bush is taking legal action
against a satirical Internet website that
lampoons his allegedly misspent youth. The
case that may test the limits of both free
speech and the candidate's sense of humour.
Mr Bush, the Texas governor and
front-runner for the Republican nomination,
took particular and predictable exception to
a faked photograph on the website that
shows him with a straw up his nose,
inhaling lines of white powder, beneath the
headline: "It's the hypocrisy, stupid."
Allegations that Mr Bush took drugs in the
past have bedevilled his campaign, and
when questioned about the website, Mr
Bush reacted furiously, insisting "there
ought to be limits to freedom" - a remark
that he has since had cause to regret.
Mr Bush's lawyers warned Zack Exley, the
29-year-old computer programmer from
Boston who designed the site, that he faced
a lawsuit for using copyrighted photographs
lifted from the official Bush campaign
website.
A formal complaint has also been filed with
the Federal Election Commission (FEC),
accusing Mr Exley of violating election
rules by behaving like a political campaign
committee without observing the necessary
regulations. Mr Bush's lawyers say that
because the site specifically urges voters
not to vote for the Republican candidate it
should register as a political action
committee and thus disclose its funding
under FEC rules.
If the action was intended to silence Mr
Exley, it has had precisely the reverse
effect. More than six million people logged
on to the site in a 25-day period when the
row first erupted last summer, many more
than checked in to the official Bush website,
and Mr Exley has since become a somewhat
unlikely figurehead for freedom of speech.
Civil liberties groups say that the spat could
have serious implications for the First
Amendment, by repressing political parody.
"I'm playing the same role as any other
publication," Mr Exley, an independent
voter who professes equal disdain for the
Republican and Democratic parties, told
The Washington Post. "I'm satirising Bush.
I'm providing political commentary."
The Bush campaign has since opened up a
new line of attack by suggesting that the
mocking website has links to pornographic
sites, an allegation that Mr Exley denies.
Mr Bush has revealed a particular
sensitivity to Internet criticism. This year
one of his advisers bought up some 60
internet sites with pejorative titles, such as
www.bushsucks.com, in an effort to head
off such attacks.
When asked about Mr Exley's Internet
parody, Mr Bush's reaction was splenetic:
"We're aware of the site, and this guy is just
a garbage man."
Mr Exley's stance as a campaigner for free
speech has been somewhat undermined,
however, by allegations that he is a
so-called "cyber-squatter" hoping to make a
profit by occupying then selling up a
valuable property. Mr Ginsberg said that the
young programmer had offered to sell the
site to the Bush campaign for $300,000
(£186,000), later lowering his price to
$80,0000 (£49,000).
Mr Exley claims the Bush camp made the
first contact to see if he was prepared to
sell. "I figured Bush would be annoyed, and
it would be fun to haggle with the
campaign."
"For him to say that there should be limits to
freedom, he pretty much made a fool out of
himself," Mr Exley said.
Until the FEC rules on the case the fake
photograph will remain on the Internet,
attracting thousands of readers and leaving
Mr Bush snorting.
BEN MACINTYRE
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/
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