Those who know me well enough know that I hate, with the fire of a thousand suns, companies whose business is based on mobile phone ringtones, SMS scams etc. To me they're only one step up from spammers, and it burns me every time I see one of their horrifically-bad advertisements on TV.

The other day one such ad came on, describing how you can find your "perfect match" simply by sending your name via SMS to the number on your screen. You know the drill. Anyway, hidden in the small print at the bottom of the screen (the bit that tells you that you're surrendering your firstborn child if you so much as pick up your phone after watching this ad) was this text:

ask bill ayers permission

Do I need to write "sic" here? I want to make it clear that none of that is a typo.

So after reading that, I jokingly posted this to Twitter:

Who is Bill Ayers? There's a dodgy SMS-dating ad on TV right now whose fine print includes the text, "bill ayers permission".

Nobody replied, but something magical happened. Within 24 hours, this story appeared on Digg: Obama Ayers Ad Responds To McCain Attack. It turns out that Bill Ayers is some sort of political activist from the US!

So now I'm really confused! A slimy SMS subscription company in Australia is demanding that you get William Ayers' permission before sending them your name! Ok, they forgot to include the trailing apostrophe, but their business model suggests that they're slightly retarded, so I can forgive them that.

What's the story, Bill Ayers? Why do I need your permission!!??