A website developer took on a volunteer deputy position with the Macomb County Sheriff's Department. The department had, at the time, a very basic website which didn't even have it's own domain name (it was an offshoot of the county libraries' domain, I believe). The developer volunteered to revamp the sheriff department's website, complete with it's own domain name (macombsheriff.com). He then spent the next two years working on the site, developing it into an impressive MySQL/PHP-based CMS with all the trimmings. After two years of working on it without pay, he decided to start charging the sheriff's department for his continuing work. They refused to pay, negotiations broke down, things got ugly.

Eventually he pulled the plug on the website, which by this time had become known as the official website of the Macomb County Sheriff's Department (they even had the domain name on their squad cars and business cards). The dept. arrested the developer, charged him with attempted extortion and larceny by conversion, among other things. Charges were eventually dropped, the developer countersued for false arrest, etc., as well as the payment that he felt he deserved for his years of work on the site in the first place.

This was the point I came into the picture.

The civil case finally went to court last fall; in the end, the jury denied every one of the developers' claims (but neither did they award anything to the Sheriff's dept which had counter-sued for legal costs).

The crux of the case was that no matter what other factors may have been involved, in the end, the developer had VOLUNTEERED his time and effort. At no point did anyone EVER agree, in writing, verbally, or even by implication, to pay him anything.

Here's a few links for anyone interested in finding out more about this case (please note that there's a LOT more to the story than what I've stated or what's in these links, but I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to discuss publicly even now, so I'm keeping it to public record material):

Charges dismissed against ex-Web site operator

Prosecutor to seek reinstatement of charge against ex-Web site operator
Sheriff's Web site dispute settled, but Webmaster may sue

(it was after the above story that I first became involved)

Jury hears sheriff's Web site lawsuit
Hackel wins civil case against former Webmaster

Here's a few related links which fill in some of the backstory--but only from the developers' point of view, so take them with a large grain of salt:

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0 4/03/05/0314219

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.ph p?t=69462

http://www.justice4pat.com/

I bring up this case for obvious reasons. The situation and specifics may be different, but the bottom line is that no matter what, unless the Obama campaign AGREED to pay this guy for his time, before, during or after the fact, they don't owe him anything. Now, whether they SHOULD do so as a WISE PR MOVE is an entirely different story. In the court case I testified in, the Sheriff's Dept wasn't trying to win over public opinion or run for an election, they were trying to save the county money. In Obama's case, the guy is running for President, and is doing so as a (supposed) darling of the online community, so it would certainly be a SMART thing to simply pay the guy what he asked for.

Finally, there's the matter of the transfer of the MySpace account name & ownership. For this, let's take a look at the official MySpace policy page:

Key points (emphasis mine):

Eligibility. Use of and Membership in the MySpace Services is void where prohibited. By using the MySpace Services, you represent and warrant that (a) all registration information you submit is truthful and accurate; (b) you will maintain the accuracy of such information; (c) you are 14 years of age or older; and (d) your use of the MySpace Services does not violate any applicable law or regulation. Your profile may be deleted and your Membership may be terminated without warning, if we believe that you are under 14 years of age.

In order to receive the account "myspace.com/barackobama" didn't he have to give that as his actual name?

Term. This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect while you use the MySpace Services or are a Member. You may terminate your Membership at any time, for any reason, by following the instructions on the Member's Account Settings page. MySpace.com may terminate your Membership at any time, without warning. Even after Membership is terminated, this Agreement will remain in effect, including sections 5-17.

So he agreed that they could kill his account whenever they wanted to.

Password. When you sign up to become a Member, you will also be asked to choose a password. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password. You agree not to use the account, username, or password of another Member at any time or to disclose your password to any third party. You agree to notify MySpace.com immediately if you suspect any unauthorized use of your account or access to your password. You are solely responsible for any and all use of your account.

He willingly gave his password to the campaign, violating the policies.

Non-commercial Use by Members. The MySpace Services are for the personal use of Members only and may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by MySpace.com. Illegal and/or unauthorized use of the MySpace Services, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of Members by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email or unauthorized framing of or linking to the MySpace Website is prohibited. Commercial advertisements, affiliate links, and other forms of solicitation may be removed from Member profiles without notice and may result in termination of Membership privileges. Appropriate legal action will be taken for any illegal or unauthorized use of the MySpace Services.

He's asking for payment for his work done using MySpace's servers and using MySpace's website editing tools. The only thing that he actually contributed was his time, and that was done voluntarily.

Content/Activity Prohibited:

(prohibited content includes...) 14. includes a photograph of another person that you have posted without that person's consent;

(prohibited activity includes...)6. attempting to impersonate another Member or person;

I don't know whether there were any photos of Obama but I'm assuming that there were--granted, as a public figure, this is probably not a problem. However, the second point above ("impersonating") is a different story. Now, again, he may have had disclaimers saying "unofficial" and "I'm not Obama" all over the site, but the URL itself still reads "myspace.com/barackobama".

Again, whether it would be WISE of the Obama campaign to pay the guy off is a different argument, but they're not under any obligation to do so legally or morally.

A person's time is worth exactly what someone else is willing to pay them, no more, no less, unless mandated otherwise legally.

For the record, I've been torn between Richardson, Edwards and Obama up until now (though Richardson's debate performance didn't help him in my opinion), so I'm hardly an Obama cheerleader, but this incident doesn't do anything to increase or decrease my opinion of him as a candidate (at least so far...I'll have to see how he responds to it going forward).