Dirty Tricks empolyed by the Defend Marriage Coalition

Taken from the globeandmail.com today:


What's in a name? For politicians, everything.
It contains a reputation and a lifetime of political capital, all rolled into an easy two-word brand. But on the wild, mostly lawless Internet, a name is only as good as the first person to register it.
Canadian politicians debating same-sex marriage have suddenly found themselves into the worldwide debate over "cybersquatting" -- appropriating someone else's name and claiming it as your website address. It's usually done for profit, but it's increasingly used as a political tool as well.

At least 50 MPs -- mostly supporters of same-sex marriage -- have discovered that their names have been registered as websites by the Defend Marriage Coalition, a lobby group against same-sex unions. Names such as Joseph Volpe, Chuck Cadman and David McGuinty are already staked out.

When Liberal MP Don Boudria logs on to http://www.donboudria.ca/, he sees his official photo and constituency information, but also the headline: "Can you trust Don Boudria?" The site calls his constituents to "send Don Boudria an e-mail and let him know that you want him to vote against Bill C-38 and to protect the definition of marriage."