Last week, Senator Orrin Hatch argued that people who download unauthorized copies of copyrighted materials should have their computers automatically destroyed as "the only way to teach somebody about copyrights."
The bummer is, Wired News just reported that Hatch's official Senate website made extensive use of an unlicensed, stolen copy of a copyrighted javascript menu widget. If Hatch had his way, his own website would have been "destroyed" by now. Instead, alerted by Wired News, Hatch's web vendor has finally ponied up for the $900 license. (There's a lesson: ask your vendors if they have the rights to the software they're selling you.)
Adding insult to injury: Until Friday, the good Senator's website also linked to a pornographic website. OK, OK, it's not entirely his fault: The website, MyUtahSearch.com, used to be a legit search engine - and only recently got snapped up by the decidedly un-Mormon website. The link is gone now, but Wired News has the story and Google's cache has the proof. (Another lesson: check your links. Regularly.)
Hatch's official Senate site is run by GSL Solutions, a company out of Tampa, Florida, that produces cookie-cutter GOP websites. I suspect Hatch would have been better served by Portland-based Republican web firm Politikos/PopArt -- whose principals ran his 2000 presidential campaign website.
There's a correction to this piece. Read it here.
This item was originally posted at MandateMedia.com on June 22, 2003.
Posted on June 22, 2003 in GOPWatch | See full archives
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