For the week of Sept 25 - Oct 1, 2002

Williams ‘cyber squats’ on Stennett Web site

Idaho GOP vice chairman 
declines to say why

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By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer

The vice chairman of Idaho’s Republican Party has created a Web site on the Internet using the name of state Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, but will not disclose how, why or when he plans to use the site with Stennett’s name as part of what he calls "a political strategy" that he also won’t discuss.

Latham Williams, Idaho GOP vice chairman

Latham Williams, 40, who’s also president of the Sun Valley City Council as well as Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s new appointee to the state Parks and Recreation Board, denied he’s engaged in "identity theft," a growing concern of state and federal regulators involved in "intellectual property" cases that can include the name of a person or company.

A 1999 federal law (15 U.S.C. 1125) allows persons or companies whose names have been used in "bad faith" on the Internet to sue for damages. The practice is known as "cyber squatting," in which someone creates a Web site in the name of some other person or company.

Some squatters attempt to sell names back to rightful owners at a profit. Others have used names to deceive. In one case, for example, a cyber squatter created a pornography site, www.whitehouse.com, which still is operating. The real White House site is www.whitehouse.gov.

After the Mountain Express learned of Williams’ ploy, he answered "no comment" to a series of questions about the motive of a prominent Republican using the name of a prominent Democrat without authorization, and said that "if I use it (the Web site) for something, I’ll be happy to talk about it."

He added: "I don’t want to talk about political strategy."

When asked whether he would use Sen. Stennett’s name on the Web site for raising political funds for himself or the Republican Party or to embarrass Stennett with misleading content, Williams abandoned "no comment" and replied:

"That’s not my style. And I haven’t done anything (with the Web site) yet."

When pressed for more explanations while standing outside Sun Valley council chambers last Thursday, Williams said, "Look, I’ve bought an advertising vehicle. (Political) campaigns buy up Web sites" all the time.

Said Williams:

"I got to it (registering a Web site) before he (Stennett) did."

The Web site – www.clintstennett.com - reads:

"Coming Soon! www.clintstennett.com. This domain is now ACTIVE but the Web site is still under construction. Please check back again soon."

Williams registered and reserved the site with Stennett’s name for two years in May of this year. The site registrar, dollardomainname.com, charges $15 per year.

A search of the Internet indicates Latham Williams does not have a Web site in his name.

Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum

Stennett, who learned of the site with his name from an Internet-surfing friend, characterized Williams’ use of his name as "weird," "creepy" and "a dirty trick." He said he hasn’t decided what action he might take, but said he hasn’t spoken to Williams about it.

Stennett also said Williams "was making noises" earlier this year about running for state Senate against him, but decided not to. The deadline for filing for the 2002 November election was in April. Williams created the site a month later in May.

Stennett’s Republican opponent is Gooding County Commissioner Tom Faulkner, of Bliss.

Mike Henderson, chief of the Idaho attorney general’s criminal division, said the state does not have a specific law prohibiting "cyber squatting," but does have a statute (chapters 18-2201 and 18-2202) providing felony punishment for misusing computers and networks.

It reads: "Any person who knowingly accesses, attempts, to access or uses, or attempts to use any computer, computer system, computer network, or any part thereof for the purpose of: devising or executing any scheme or artifice to defraud; obtaining money, property, or services by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises; or committing theft; commits computer crime."

Without knowing that a question involved Williams’ use of Stennett’s name, Henderson said that hypothetically "in the course of Web squatting, (a person) might very well be violating provisions of the criminal statute," depending on their actions.

The U.S. district attorney’s office in Boise referred a reporter to the new federal law’s subsection (d) – "Cyberpiracy prevention" – as the tool used against cyber squatters.

"(1)(A) A person shall be liable in a civil action by the owner of a mark, including a personal name which is protected as a mark under this section, if, without regard to the goods or services of the parties, that person (i) has a bad faith intent to profit from that mark, including a personal name which is protected as a mark under this section. . . ."

Also active in policing cyber squatting is the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which work to remove Web sites if "bad faith" usage is found.

Ironically, just two weeks ago, a seminar was held in Sun Valley on protecting intellectual property. The sponsor: the law firm of Hawley Troxell Ennis & Hawley, whose resident managing partner is Rand Peebles, also the city of Sun Valley’s attorney who advises the council of which Latham Williams is a member.

Earlier this year, during the state GOP convention in Sun Valley, Gov. Kempthorne declared that Blaine County – a traditional Democratic stronghold – is now a "Five-Star Republican County," and credited Williams, along with Ketchum City Councilman Maurice Charlat, for making Republican inroads. Williams thereafter was rewarded with an appointment to the state Parks and Recreation Board, a move some observers consider part of grooming Williams for higher office.

When Williams’ Web site was explained to Kempthorne press secretary Mark Snider, he said, "I can’t speak to this" because questions are political and he (Snider) is a state employee. He also declined to discuss whether questions of ethics covering appointees to state boards is involved. He suggested Kempthorne’s re-election campaign manager, Jason Lahosit, might be willing to comment. Lahosit later said he was unfamiliar with the issue and couldn’t comment.

When told of William’s tactic, State Democratic Party chairman Carolyn Boyce, of Boise, said it "sounds pretty deceptive. Only reason is to deceive the public. Why else would he (Williams) do that? It doesn’t sound right. They (Republicans) obviously don’t want to run on the issues."

A message asking for comment was left Monday at Republican Party state headquarters for the chairman, retiring state Sen. John Sandy, of Hagerman, who chose to retire from the state Senate rather than run against Stennett as the result of redistricting. As of Tuesday afternoon, he had not responded.

Messages also were left at the home and city hall office for Councilman Charlat, regarded as a Blaine County Republican heavyweight, who also did not return messages.

When reached at his home, Stennett’s opponent, Tom Faulkner, said he had not heard about the dispute and therefore had no comment.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.