>Don't y'all just LOVE a goof April Fool's joke? hee hee hee
good ones, yes. this one, no. and this wasn't an April Fool's joke..
those happen on April 1st.
this was a week-long setup which began March 24th, and made every
attempt to look realistic. the setup didn't amuse me, it made me mad..
mad at Microsoft and the idea that a corporate power would lean on an
individual who was small and relatively defenseless, and by extension
on the concept of free speech which doesn't support their interests.
here's something which shows how mad i was about the situation..
it's pure luck that i didn't post it earlier:
>
> as of 1 april, 1999, the website for the comic strip _User
> Friendly_ (http://www.userfriendly.org/) was shut down. that
> shutdown took place because of a threat of legal action by an
> unnamed company who didn't like the strip's tendency to use the
> name 'Microsoft' in less-than-flattering contexts.
>
> it is my personal opinion that such a lawsuit is not merely
> frivolous, but an attempt to make free speech subservient to
> corporate interests. the Microsoft corporation pays millions
> of dollars annually to tell people how good their products are,
> and if the suit succeeds, it's against the law to disagree.
> specifically, to disagree injures Microsoft by making their
> advertising dollars less effective.
>
> i find this concept abhorrent, and hope the citizens of the
> internet will address the issue in terms even a beancounter can
> understand: by making it a source of massive, decentralized,
> negative PR. if the company which leveled the suit at _User
> Friendly_ doesn't care about basic freedoms, maybe they'll care
> about the cost of advertising for damage control.
>
>
> i personally believe in the power of the internet, and the
> ability of its citizens to make their opinions known when they
> so choose. this isn't starry-eyed idealism, it's the result of
> having seen what happens when that community rolls up its
> sleeves and decides to get something done. the lightning
> struck once when Hank, the Angry Drunken Dwarf won the _People_
> magazine online poll for Most Beautiful Person of the Year. it
> struck again when _User Friendly's_ own character, The Dust
> Puppy, was written into the _Time_ magazine online poll for Man
> of the Year.
>
> neither event was globally significant in itself, but both
> provided a glimpse of the strength to be found in a few million
> people who have email and an agenda. the elections of Hank and
> Dust Puppy were done in a spirit of fun, but this time, the
> stakes are higher. i see this issue, and the response of the
> online community, as a test case in how much we're all willing
> to be pushed around in the name of corporate interest. i, for
> one, would like to take the opportunity to set an example for
> future corporations to note, and to remember.
>
>
> i do not, by any means or in any manner, advocate any form of
> action against the Microsoft corporation. even the most
> reasonable statement of displeasure through official channels is
> unnecessary, and in my opinion, beside the point. if the
> online community has to ask a company please to stop trampling
> our freedoms, we don't deserve those freedoms in the first
> place. attacks or flamage are worse than useless, because they
> perpetuate the fallacy that the other guy is bigger and stronger
> than we are.
>
> t'aint so.
>
> instead, i advocate the simple premise that more speech is
> better. i don't want everyone writing to Microsoft, or the
> DOJ, or their congressman, or anyone else 'official' to
> complain.. i want everyone to write to each other. i want
> *lots* of people writing to each other. i believe that a
> widespread, open discussion of the pros and cons of this issue
> will have a greater effect than any appeal to any authorities,
> whoever they may be.
>
> i believe that speech itself is the remedy to this situation,
> because the minds which want to control our speech prefer to act
> behind the scenes, unnoticed, until it's too late to stop them.
> i believe that the interests which wanted _User Friendly_ shut
> down acted against the very concept of widespread, open
> discussion. i believe that such discussion can only hurt them,
> because i believe their opinions and their agenda to be
> fundamentally incompatible with letting people say what they
> think.
>
> i also believe that to engage in such discussion carries a
> certain amount of risk, because it challenges the power of
> corporate interests. as _User Friendly_ demonstrates,
> sometimes standing out means getting cut down.
>
> for myself, i think the cause is worth the risk.
>
>
> the citizens of the internet can't stop corporate interests from
> attempting to shut our mouths, but we can sure as hell make it
> expensive for them to try. we generate our own speech for
> free, and the speech which carries the corporate agenda has to
> be paid for. if they want to ram ideas down our throats, let's
> at least have the spirit to make them spend a few extra bucks
> doing it.
>
> if you think the issue is worth talking about, please copy this
> message and send it to someone you know. then talk about it
> among yourselves. don't take the issue to the Bad Guys.. don't
> take any note of them at all. shun them. ignore them. make
> them come scurrying to us, begging for our attention. that way,
> we'll all know who's in charge.
>
>
>
>
> Michael A. Stone
> 1 april, 1999
>
i put my name on that thing the way John Hancock signed the declaration
of independence.. as a royal "screw you" to the powers that be.
i'm very glad i don't have to go back and follow that up with an "oops,
never mind" message. i'm very unhappy that i was willing to take a
stand for someone who was willing to make a fool out of me. i won't
make that mistake again as regards UF.
mike stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 'net geek..
been there, done that, have network, will travel.
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