It’s guerrilla politics at its cleverest. The mysterious Internet video that compares Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to Big Brother is the boffo hit of the YouTube website. The 74-second clip, a copy of a 1984 Apple ad for its Macintosh computer, has recorded more than 1 million views, with an enormous surge in the past two days.

While the video’s final image reads “BarackObama.com”, the campaign of the Illinois senator has denied being behind it. Its creator remains anonymous.

As the Internet looks more and more like an electronic community, politicians are increasingly devoting resources to their websites, planting themselves in electronic gathering places such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com and posting their videos on YouTube.

With some exceptions, however, what draws viewers is content that politicians don’t control. A clip of Clinton singing a slightly off-key version of the Star-Spangled Banner has drawn more than 1 million views. What’s more, Internet content does not have to meet the strict reporting standards that television and radio ads must observe. That makes the web the medium of choice for stealthy tactics by partisans operating outside the campaigns.

For candidates caught in the crosshairs, one way to respond is to brush it off, preferably with humour. Asked about the Macintosh video, Clinton said: “I’m just happy if it’s taking attention away from my singing. My singing was bad enough. I’m just happy that nobody is tuning in to that.”

The ad portrays Clinton on a huge television screen addressing robotic humans in a stark, futuristic hall. A female athlete tosses a hammer at the screen, destroying Clinton’s image with an explosive flash. Then this text: “On January 14th the Democratic primary will begin. And you will see why 2008 isn’t going to be like 1984.”

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