London, May 17: All's fair in love and war. But,
not with the US President, it seems, for a British dating site
has landed into trouble for trading on Barack Obama's name and
posting a snap of America's First Couple on its portal.
According to 'Daily Star', 'ObamaSinglesDating.com' is
facing an investigation for using Obama's name on their portal
and posting an album of the US First Couple, including a photo
with the Queen snapped in London earlier this year without any
permission from the White House.
"Are these guys nuts? Didn't they realise they could
end up in the middle of a federal investigation? I'd strongly
suggest they change their name right now -- like today -- and
take every photo of the President and his wife off their site.
This is unbelievably audacious," a White House insider said.
And the Oval Office insider has also vowed to pass the
information on to the "appropriate authorities" if the website
doesn't stop using Obama's name and withdraw the snaps of the
US First Couple -- taken at his inauguration ball in January
-- from their title page, the report said.
Though there's no sign-up fee for the service but when
members "hit" on a potential date they are charged some USD 20
if they get a reply. So if 10 people in 100 countries cough up
every 24 hours, the site is making USD 20,000 a day, it said.
Computer expert Al Clarkson said: "These guys are
sitting on a potential goldmine because singles who land on
that site -- which will come up high on search engines because
of Obama's name -- are likely to be tempted to register. It's
actually a clever scam as what appears to be a deliberately
outrageous joke will hook a lot of people."
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, May 17, 2009, 14:49