Obama Camp in Myspace Row With Leading Fan

Barack Obama, one of the leading candidates for the Democratic party's 2008 presidential nomination, has ended up in the middle of a cyber-squabble after wresting control of a fan site from an enthusiastic backer.

Joe Anthony, who lives in Los Angeles, set up an Obama page in November 2004 after seeing the politician's speech to the Democratic convention. The site had attracted 30,000 supporters by January this year, but the figure rocketed to more than 150,000 after Mr Obama formally declared that he was a presidential contender.

The Obama team initially worked with Mr Anthony, promoting the site and allowing him to use campaign material. But as it grew in popularity they became concerned about someone outside the campaign controlling content under Mr Obama's name and wrested control of the pages, on the social networking site MySpace, on Wednesday.

The row has turned into a test case for internet campaigning and ownership of a name. Some web-users expressed disappointment that Mr Obama had behaved in what they saw as a heavy-handed manner, while others said he was entitled to control a site bearing his name.

Mr Obama's Democratic opponents watched with pleasure, seeing the row as potentially denting his image as above traditional politics and as a candidate of the young - the main users of the site.

Mr Anthony, on his blogsite, accused the Obama campaign team of "bullying". But Mr Obama telephoned him on Wednesday to minimise the damage. Mr Anthony said: "He expressed his appreciation and we agreed there is something to be learned by everyone involved at this point ... This is a horrible thing that happened and he shouldn't be held responsible. It's his campaign that perhaps mismanaged this."

Having initially said the dispute had soured him against Mr Obama, Mr Anthony said that as a result of the telephone call he was prepared to be open-minded. But he added: "It'll take time for me to work this out and decide if I will personally continue to support Obama."

There was also an apparent dispute about money, with the team saying Mr Anthony wanted $39,000 (£14,500) in payment for his services.

MySpace was called in to settle the dispute and decided that Mr Obama should have the rights to control the page as of Monday night. But it ruled that Mr Anthony had the rights to the 150,000 people who had signed up. He is considering deleting all 150,000 names.