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----- Original Message -----
From: "RTMark Bulletin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "PIEMAN.pieman.org" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 3:54 AM
Subject: Site-stealing program answers WTO crackdown on [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> This message is not commercial. Get off our list by writing
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?[EMAIL PROTECTED].
>
> November 15, 2001
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> WTO ATTACKS WEBSITE, REAPS HUNDREDS OF OTHERS
> As it meets in Qatar, WTO attempts to shut down critical website;
> group counters with site-stealing software
>
> Contacts: Jonathan Prince (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
> Jean-Guy Carrier (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
> Verio (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
> The Yes Men (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
> Software: http://www.theyesmen.org/yesiwill/
> http://yesiwill.plagiarist.org/
> http://detritus.net/projects/yesiwill/
>
> Last Friday, Jonathan Prince, who owns the Gatt.org domain, received a
> call from Verio, Gatt.org's upstream provider. The World Trade
> Organization had just asked Verio to shut down the domain for
> copyright violations, and Verio told Prince that it would do just that
> if nothing was changed by November 13--the last day of the Doha
> Ministerial, as it would happen. An official email followed
> (http://rtmark.com/verio.html).
>
> (Last-minute update: Verio's shutdown is currently expected sometime
> after noon EST today--watch software sites above for updates.)
>
> "It's the war," says Prince. "Bush has popularized zero-tolerance, and
> it's open season on dissent of any kind. So just when they're meeting
> in Doha, the WTO has decided to divert attention from its problems by
> attacking a website."
>
> "Or maybe they really do want to make it so that protest has as little
> place on the web as it does in Qatar," adds Prince.
>
> Oddly enough, the WTO has been aware of the parody website since
> before the 1999 Ministerial in Seattle, when it issued a public
> statement claiming the site misled visitors
> (http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres99_e/pr151_e.htm).
>
> Two weeks ago, the WTO issued another release
> (http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news01_e/gattdotorg_e.htm), this
> one claiming that Gatt.org was harvesting e-mails, an allegation
> reprinted as fact in some newspaper articles
> (http://rtmark.com/pressgat.html).
>
> While it may be puzzling why the WTO chose to issue a second press
> release about Gatt.org two years later, it is even more surprising
> that they are now taking concrete steps to stop the critical site.
> In statements made just last week to the French daily newspaper
> Liberation and to others, WTO spokesperson Jean-Guy Carrier stated
> that "It's not our job to use legal means against people. We
> appreciate dissidence and honest criticism."
>
> Why the sudden change of attitude?
>
> "They got nervous, it's only human," said Elaine Peabody, a
> spokesperson for The Yes Men (http://www.theyesmen.org), the group
> that maintains the Gatt.org website. "The WTO remembers what happened
> the last time they had one of these meetings [in Seattle]. They felt
> like tackling something they knew they could handle--and a satirical
> website fit the bill."
>
> BATTLE HEATS UP
>
> But the WTO could well have stepped on a hornets' nest. To counter
> the attack, the Yes Men have are releasing today a piece of
> open-source "parodyware" (http://theyesmen.org/yesiwill/) that will
> "forever make this kind of censorship obsolete," according to Peabody.
>
> "Using this software, it takes five minutes to set up a convincing,
> personalized, evolving parody of the WTO.org website, or any other
> website of your choice," said Peabody, who helped to develop the
> program. "All you need is a place to put it--say, WTOO.org,
> WorldTradeOrg.com, whatever."
>
> The software, called "Yes I Will!", automatically duplicates websites
> as needed, changing words and images as the user desires--with results
> that can be very telling. The WTO site can be made to speak of
> "consumers" and "companies" rather than "citizens" and "countries."
> Unleashed on the CNN.com website, the software can simplify the
> reporting even further by referring to Bush as "Leader," and the war
> in Afghanistan as one between "Good" and "Evil"; a Time.com article
> linked from the site then discusses "The Poor Way of War". The parody
> site updates itself automatically as the target website changes.
>
> "The idea is to insure that even if they shut down our website,
> hundreds of others will continue our work of translation," said
> Peabody. "The more they try to fight it, the funnier they're going to
> look."
>
> "Such heavy-handed tactics work as poorly in cyberspace as they do on
> the geopolitical stage," said Cooper Kharms, another Yes Man. "At
> least Gatt.org was transparent: you could tell what it was by reading
> a line or two. These other sites may not be so obvious."
>
> Prince thinks the software, while interesting, is not a solution.
> "With their attack on Gatt.org, an unelected, unaccountable
> organization is running roughshod over the USA Bill of Rights," said
> Prince. "But every day they violate people's rights in the Third
> World, or enable corporations to do so. This time it's just closer to
> home."
>
> For more on the legal basis of the WTO's attack, see also
> http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=15296&group=webcast
>
>
> RTMark's primary goal is to publicize corporate subversion of the
> democratic process. To this end it acts as a clearinghouse for
> anti-corporate projects.
>
> # 30 #
>
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