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F R E N D Z of martian
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Well this has certainly been the year of the meme =)
The rumours about martial law preparations (in the states and here) have been
doing the rounds for ages.
And with a cynical ear, this sounds an awful lot like damage limitation. Just
call me paranoid.
martian
On Fri, 26 Nov 1999, kip wrote:
> ---
> F R E N D Z of martian
> ---
>
> A note from kip:
>
> Where the Y2K video came from...
>
> ============================================================
>
> From Wired News, available online at:
> http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,32746,00.html
>
> Y2K Spoof Flick Goes Awry
> by Craig Bicknell
>
> 11:00 a.m. 24.Nov.1999 PST
> Mike Zieper wanted to tap into current passions with his video art. To
> do it, he made a grainy, gray tape in which a faceless narrator
> prepares his soldiers to unleash a government-sponsored riot in Times
> Square at midnight 2000.
>
> The plan: to create chaos so federal troops have an excuse to move in.
>
>
> Read ongoing Y2K coverage
>
> Weird thing was, after Zieper posted the video clip on his Web site,
> the troops did move in.
>
> "This FBI agent called," said Zieper. "He said, 'There are a lot of
> people planning to vacation in New York this year, a lot of them are
> coming to your site and they're getting scared. I want to talk to you
> about how we can stop people from coming to this site.'"
>
> Zieper called a lawyer and didn't pull the site. So both the FBI and
> the US Attorney's Office went upstream to Zieper's Web hosting
> company, BECamation in Michigan, and asked that Zieper's site be
> pulled. There was no threat of legal action, but BECamation president
> Mark Wieger complied.
>
> "We didn't want to take any chances with our business, so we pulled it
> down," Wieger said.
>
> In doing so, Wieger pulled a lever that let loose a virtual riot among
> free-speech advocates. After the Village Voice published a piece about
> the incident, online message boards erupted in protest. Now the
> American Civil Liberties Union is considering a lawsuit on Zieper's
> behalf.
>
> "We think, certainly, that it's very improper for the FBI to be
> harassing an Internet hosting company to take down content that may be
> disturbing, but is certainly protected by the First Amendment," said
> ACLU staff attorney Ann Beeson.
>
> The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.
>
> Meanwhile, the video itself has been copied and posted on numerous
> mirror sites.
>
> It's a hit beyond anything Zieper could have anticipated. Reality has
> woven a fresh, relevant, scene into the video's fiction and given it a
> nice buzz. A grand slam for a struggling artist.
>
> "If this gets people to look at all this stuff seriously, that's
> fantastic. That's exactly what I wanted to do," Zieper said.
>
> That doesn't mean he's not upset, particularly on behalf of Mark
> Wieger, who's been besieged by vicious flame emails decrying his
> decision to pull Zieper's site.
>
> "They're saying, 'Why didn't you stand up for the Constitution?'"
> Zieper said. "I think that's very easy to say from afar, but when the
> knock comes for you it's a terrifying experience. They tried to infer
> that he best get out of the way."
>
> That has Zieper wondering what else the FBI is up to. "I hope this is
> just an aberration," he said. "I hope that they review the
> constitution back at the FBI and don't try to do anything like this
> again."
>
> Related Wired Links:
>
> A True Y2K Disaster: the Movie
> 20.Nov.1999
>
> ACLU to Spy on Echelon
> 17.Nov.1999
>
> Usenet Ban a Slippery Slope?
> 16.Nov.1999
>
> The Fed's Deadbeat Database
> 9.Nov.1999
>
> COPA Goes Before the Bench
> 4.Nov.1999
>
> 'Don't Help the Snoops'
> 25.Oct.1999
>
> Copyright 1994-99 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.
>
>
>
> --
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>
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