Etoy: 'This Means toywar.com!'
page 2
11:40 a.m. 17.Jan.2000 PST
continued
"WOW! you found a highly explosive INFORMATION BOMB before it could cause further damage on the etoy.SERVER-INFRASTRUCTURE," you are informed. "Since the beginning of the lawsuit eToys vs. etoy many TOYWAR.agents had to defuse legal-bombs and propaganda-bombs placed by eToys Inc.... They caused damage for about 50.000 $. This is just one reason why the etoy.ENGINEERS introduced the resistance platform www.toywar.com. Do you have the skills and the luck to defuse this bomb?"
Get lucky and choose the right switch -- after first being warned to store all documents, because "an explosion can crash your system."
One icon it may be wise to stay away from blares "The etoy.RESISTANCE-ALERT!" It proclaims: "As soon as the borders of the etoy.PROPERTY are crossed by one single crappy plastic soldier from [any] law firm hired by eToys, A GLOBAL ALERT GETS TRIGGERED."
If that sounds a little breathless and self-aggrandizing -- at odds with the usual etoy cool detachment -- etoy folks will be the first ones to admit they've been transformed by their battle with eToys.
The big company backed down only when a wide range of Internet users decided to speak out on behalf of etoy. So to them, the sense of community means something. "This whole thing proves that the Internet definitely works differently," said the etoy spokesman who calls himself Zai.
"People could really see that and they are totally excited that they have something to say here, because they are connected. They don't have to go out and make riots and run the risk of being tear-gassed if they want to say their opinion, they can do that with their email. People can really have an impact. This was always a priority in our art concept."
The latest status report from etoy, mailed worldwide on Saturday, declared, "It only looks like there is no war anymore!" It called on supporters to send still more emails to eToys to keep up the pressure.
"We don't see ourselves as political activists," said Zai. "There is a political layer, maybe, but it's an abstract layer. We don't want to be the freedom heroes of the Internet. It was the people who fought. We were just lucky that the people like our art.
"But we do want to generate an impact. We can't really imagine our work being isolated. Toywar is a good example of what we want to do, because it's a living system. We have no idea what people do who meet here. They talk to each other. They can make deals. It's a living system which generates an impact. We can prove that the whole etoy concept fits into a big picture."
