The Insider: Site's part of Allen spoof! So is e-mail!

Monday, October 24, 2005

"PAUL ALIEN 2": THE FAKE WEB SITE: Seward Park filmmaker Alex Mayer went out on a limb earlier this month when he released "Paul Alien," a movie he said proves the Mercer Island multibillionaire is collaborating with 2-foot-tall aliens to help them conquer the Earth.

Last week he may have inched toward the limb's slender end, sending 200 people an e-mail purporting to quote Allen praising the movie, on www.paulallen.org -- a Web site Mayer himself built and linked to in his e-mail.

Mayer's e-mail said the Web site belongs to "the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation." Such a foundation exists -- but not at the URL Mayer furnished.

That URL leads to a site that cleverly mimics the design of the site belonging to Allen's family foundation but substitutes satirical content and a title that's different by one crucial letter.

It's called "The Paul G. Alien Family Foundation."

The fake Web site includes a fake quote from Allen praising Mayer's movie.

"I fully approve of this hilarious movie," the site quotes Allen as saying.

"Paul Alien is at times not entirely factual, but I found the anti-corporate, culture-jamming message to be refreshing, especially in the context of such a low-budget film. It is truly ironic that a handful of people with few resources could spoof me, the third richest American, so effectively."

Nowhere is the fake site labeled a satire.

No news source ran the fake quote, though Mayer's posting of it to an online publication, Seattle dBusinessNews, remained viewable until this column called editor Bill Turner Friday to inquire whether the publication knew it was a fake.

Turner said he won't let Mayer post in the future.

Mayer said he hasn't heard from Allen about the movie or the site. He's said he's not worried about the site's legality because "it's such an obvious spoof and satire is so broadly protected in our culture."

Michael Nank, a spokesman for Allen, said the phony site and quote are "clearly an unauthorized use of Mr. Allen's name. Certainly we don't condone that."

STUCK IN TRAFFIC: Maybe this says something about the sad state of gridlock in the state. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency named three Washington companies -- Boeing, Microsoft and Safeco -- to a top 20 list of "Best Workplaces for Commuters."

Microsoft, which ranked fourth on the list, provides a free FlexPass to all full-time employees, subsidizes van pools and offers an on-demand shuttle to those who commute.
Safeco, which ranked 10th, has close to half of its work force using an alternative form of commuting. It provides more than 80 van pools across the country, sponsors annual ride-share promotions and equips the majority of its facilities with showers and locker rooms.
Boeing, which ranked 12th, encourages employees to work at flexible locations and offers a transit subsidy.

And what company has the best workplace for commuting? That would be Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel.

P-I reporters Dan Richman and John Cook contributed to this edition of The Insider, the P-I business staff's weekly compendium of quips, quotes, asides, tidbits, weird facts and gossip.

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