Timing their spoof to coincide with the anniversary of the Bhopal disaster on December 3, The Yes Men, a group of anti-corporate online pranksters, posted a clever spoof version of Dow Chemicals' official website (www.dow.com) under a web address (www.dow-chemicals.com) quietly purchased for the purpose.

The site was almost indistinguishable from the real thing except in content - and even that fooled most people at first sight. It drew a landslide quarter of a million visitors in 72 hours.

Then the real Dow called in their lawyers, who forced the site's commercial host to remove the site. The second largest chemicals corporation in the US, Dow claimed an infringement of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and that use of the corporate logo, even for satirical purposes, was a breach of copyright.

The site focussed on the company's responsibilities since buying up Union Carbide, former owner of the Bhopal plant in India. The chemical explosion there 18 years ago has so far killed an estimated 20,000 men, women and children.

"Do we have a moral responsibility to make sure the site of the disaster is cleaned up and its victims compensated fairly? Of course we do," says the spoof website.

"Would we be likely to do so if we faced consumer pressure, a major stockholder resolution, or a significant brand attack on Dow's good name? Of course we would. Once profitability is on the line, our moral responsibility becomes clear."

In the end the site was shut down because it had been fictitiously registered in the name of the son of then Dow chief executive Michael Parker. The son merely faxed a copy of his driving licence to the registration authorities and the site name was legally reclaimed.

But the use of the DMCA to shut down websites still has free speech observers worried. It is by no means certain how Dow demand to cease and desist would play in the courts, given its overtones of censorship and challenge to US first amendment free speech rights.

Parody gets general support on free expression grounds, but not if the intention is to 'pass-off' the work with the deliberate intention to deceive. A similar case involving the satirical use of the Barbie doll image occupied lawyers for years.

But the terms of the DMCA allow the litigant powers to effectively pre-empt the courts by requiring the hosts of the website to take immediate action.

Like much new internet-oriented legislation worldwide, the law makes the carrier of message as liable as the messager. And while in practical terms this should be akin to making a phone company liable for insults traded down a phone, it is a powerfully effective means of shutting down a site.

As Andrew Orlowski of the online IT Register newsletter points out, the use of the DMCA obliges the hosting company to act immediately. The company is warned that it may have to prove later that they acted in good faith and that no laws were broken to the "best of its knowledge".

Failure to do so could multiply its liability, so the vast majority of firms declare discretion the better part of valour and pull the plug on all websites that come to the attention of high powered corporate lawyers.

Thus the host, Verio, promptly shut down Dow-Chemical.com and for good measure, its fellow activists at www.thing.net - online home to dozens of artists and activists with no link to the Dow spoof site.

In the end the Dow lawyers found that the pranksters' use of the Dow CEO's son's name was a more reliable way of silencing the website. However the threat to free speech posed by the DMCA still stands.

"The aggrieved party is claiming that this violates copyright - but they're making a legal assertion," web host company boss Robin Bandy told the IT Register. "And that's bullshit half of the time, as they've got (computer) programmes generating these letters."

Indeed the Yes Men's earlier parody site - targeting world trade negotiators under the name www.gatt.org in 2000 - escaped closure.

But that wasn't the end of the story. Within hours the site was back online at a new address (www.dow-chemical.va.com.au) set up to allow the entire site to be downloaded for offline viewing later - or reposting on another server should the original be closed down.

Yes Men spokesperson Andy Bichlbaum told the New York Times that "if Dow gets this one too, it will continue to exist," as activists have been encouraged to mirror the site content at additional web addresses.

The site currently appears at six different addresses, including dowethics.com and bhopal.doesntexist.com.

As for Dow CEO Michael Parker, he had problems of his own. On December 13 the firm replaced him as company chief citing the "disappointing" financial performance of the chemical company over the last two years.

Dow Chemical has been contacted for their response to this item. The article will be updated on receipt of reply.

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Links:

 The Yes Men's own account of the exchange. The IT Register voices its own fears about the DCMA.

 The parody site: Up to publication date the site is visible on the following mirror websites http://www.dowethics.com/, http://www.dowindia.com/, http://www.indexonline.org/news/www.dow-chemical.va.com.au, http://www.mad-dow-disease.com/ and http://www.indexonline.org/news/www.dow.is.dreaming.org.
 The real thing: Dow Chemicals' cease and desist letter (pdf) and the real Dow Chemicals site at http://www.dow.com/. US Today's report of the December 13 dismissal of Michael Parker.

 The Chilling Effects Clearing House website, dedicated to collecting examples of 'cease and desist' letters from corporates using their copyright powers to silence satirists and critics.
  Right-wing Christian fundamentalist Jerry Falwell's long struggle against the www.jerryfalwell.com parody site reported by C-Net and the site itself. The YesMen's moment of glory, guying the WTO.
 All about the real horror of Bhopal.