If "weapons of mass destruction" are the buzzwords of the day, then Anthony Cox hosts the Web site of the hour.
Cox is the man behind the Google "error" site that appears when someone types in the keywords "weapons of mass destruction" at the Google search engine and then presses the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button instead of "Google Search."
The site looks like an error page, but the header information reads, "These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed." Then, in smaller type: "The weapons you are looking for are currently unavailable. The country may be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your weapons inspectors mandate."
It gets nastier—and funnier—depending on your point of view: "If you are George Bush and typed in the country's name in the address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly. (IRAQ)"
And, Europe is not spared. "If you are an Old European Country trying to protect your interests, make sure your options are left wide open as long as possible. Click the Tools menu, and then click on League of Nations."
News of this page is spreading across the Internet, and elsewhere, at the speed of an urban myth. Is it the work of a hacker?
No, it's a legitimate site, said David Krane, spokesman at Google Inc. in Mountainview, CA. "Pressing the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button takes you off the Google Web site and onto the Web page of the first search results entry that would come up under that keyword. If you instead clicked 'Search,' [Cox's site] would come up as the first search result."
"Google has determined that this is the most relevant page for that particular query [weapons of mass destruction]," Krane added.
An enviable position, whatever you're selling, and perhaps a bit of a lesson to direct marketers. In an e-mail interview, Cox said he's not trying that hard to stay in first position. "The news media picked it up, so it has links from lots of sites that are rated highly by Google," he said. "Popular sites attract more links."
As it happens, Cox, a pharmacist living in Birmingham, England, isn't selling anything, really.
Oh, sure, he's got a page selling weapons of mass destruction T-shirts, and he said sales are "okay, but I won't be giving up work or buying a bigger car or anything."
Cox said he put the site up in early February as "a joke for some friends that got out of hand, but I had no idea that the current controversy over weapons of mass destruction would blow up."
The site features an ad and search box for Amazon.com and promotes left-wing humor books, such as, "Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld" by Hart Seely, editor, along with links to the books' order forms at Amazon.
His politics? "Left of center, like [England's prime minister] Blair."
People love it, he said, although some call it unpatriotic. "A few people think it can be used to remove the hated Bush regime, as they put it," Cox said. "These people seem to think that a spoof Web page can remove a government. Crazy. Has a funny cartoon ever removed a government?"
In addition to his work as a pharmacist involved in drug safety and teaching postgraduate courses at Aston University, Cox runs a more serious Web page, www.blacktriangle.com. It is a blog about prescription drugs, particularly those that, in England, have a blacktriangle icon indicating side effects. He features lots of links to sites where people can get further information.
