Sen. McCain's MySpace page commandeered for a 'prank'

News Type: Event — Seeded on Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:57 PM EDT

Article Source: Computerworld

politics, john-mccain, myspace, mike-davidson, computerworld

Visitors to Sen John McCain's MySpace page were likely surprised today by a statement that the senator has reversed his position on gay marriage and "come out in full support of gay marriage … particularly marriage between passionate females." Most won't be surprised that the statement was apparently posted as a prank.

The co-founder of an online news site, who said he designed the MySpace template used for McCain's page, claimed responsibility for changing the site. Mike Davidson, co-founder of Newsvine, said on his Web site that he commandeered the MySpace page because McCain's office used a design template of his without providing him credit. Davidson also said his imagery was used on the page and his server is used to serve up McCain's MySpace images.

The altered page was on MySpace from about noon to 1 p.m. EDT.

Published to:

Aine MacDermot's Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: Left of Center, Newsvine Community, Queer Finds on "Straight Talk"
Regions: United States

What's this?

Who's leading the conversation?

This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

2.3

{"commentId":610636,"authorDomain":"tigerblade"}

tigerblade

man... this article sounds like it's coming down hard on Mike. Yes, he did use the words 'prank' and 'commandeer,' but c'mon. The senator's profile was blatantly ripping off Mike's design and stealing his bandwidth. Mike didn't break any laws that I'm aware of -- he simply replaced an image on his own server with another image on his own server.

I still think it's awesome.

{"commentId":610636,"threadId":"88741","contentId":"635197","authorDomain":"tigerblade"}

2 votes

#1 - Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:39 AM EDT

{"commentId":610650,"authorDomain":"aine"}

Aine MacDermot

Yeah, and you'd think a techie publication like ComputerWorld could understand things like bandwidth theft. Wonder how they'd like images leeched off their server?

{"commentId":610650,"threadId":"88741","contentId":"635197","authorDomain":"aine"}

1 vote

#2 - Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:56 AM EDT

{"commentId":610948,"authorDomain":"boonsorama"}

boons_orama-131388

beautiful. So since the property was his, McCain can't claim any damages. He can't take him to court and say, hey, the image I was stealing was changed!! LMAO

{"commentId":610948,"threadId":"88741","contentId":"635197","authorDomain":"boonsorama"}

#3 - Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:15 AM EDT

{"commentId":610960,"authorDomain":"jaoson4188"}

Jason4188

Wow this is breaking news. I have not seen three other seeds just like it yesterday. *sarcasm*

{"commentId":610960,"threadId":"88741","contentId":"635197","authorDomain":"jaoson4188"}

1 vote

#4 - Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:10 PM EDT

{"commentId":611015,"authorDomain":"tigerblade"}

tigerblade

it's worse than you think. (snapshot taken about 12:30pm CST)

{"commentId":611015,"threadId":"88741","contentId":"635197","authorDomain":"tigerblade"}

1 vote

#4.1 - Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:34 PM EDT

{"commentId":611165,"authorDomain":"jaoson4188"}

Jason4188

That is ridiculous.

{"commentId":611165,"threadId":"88741","contentId":"635197","authorDomain":"jaoson4188"}

#4.2 - Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:55 PM EDT

{"commentId":611950,"authorDomain":"farmer"}

oldfogey

I can't believe Mike D would support McCain's campaign this way.

{"commentId":611950,"threadId":"88741","contentId":"635197","authorDomain":"farmer"}

#5 - Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:46 AM EDT

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"88741","isPrivate":false}

Newsvine founder hacks McCain's MySpace page	Daily Kos	Wed Mar 28	0
Mike, You Are On Ananova!	Ananova	Thu Mar 29	0
Seattle Internet CEO 'traps' Sen. McCain	Seattle Post-Intelligencer	Wed Mar 28	0
"Straight-Talk Express" not just for straight people anymore?	Wired News	Tue Mar 27	0
Hacking John McCain	Mike D.	Tue Mar 27	239

AINE MACDERMOT

Backyard

Sen. McCain's MySpace page commandeered for a 'prank'

Published to:

FUN STUFF:

COMPANY STUFF:

LEGAL STUFF: