Search engines are directing visitors to a subtle parody of the
Web site of the World Trade Organization instead of the real thing -
and the WTO is powerless to stop it, the Geneva-based body warned
Wednesday in an e-mail to members of its mailing list.
The parody site, which has been around since late 1999, has in
the last week copied the WTO's own site design and begun harvesting
the e-mail addresses of visitors without their permission, WTO
spokesman Jean-Guy Carrier said. This could enable the hoaxers to
send visitors information purporting to be from the WTO, he
said.
The parody at http://www.gatt.org/ (a reference to
the WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs)
mimics almost every detail of the WTO's own site - right down to the
front-page warning about a fake site masquerading as the real thing.
The hoaxers have subverted this to warn a third site, set up by the
WTO to promote an upcoming conference.
The parody site contains so many references to the WTO that
search engines are directing people to it instead of the real thing.
A search of AltaVista using the keyword "WTO" returns www.gatt.org
in fifth place.
The hoaxers have made small alterations to the text on their copy
of the site. "Secretary General Mike Moore" in the original text of
a press release becomes "Chief Executive Officer Mike Moore" on the
fake site, and "a draft Ministerial Declaration on intellectual
property and access to medicines/public health" is transformed at
www.gatt.org into "a draft Ministerial Declaration on
Intello-Corporate Ownership and access to medicines/consumer
work-fitness."
While the WTO encourages criticism of its role, there are limits
to the forms this should take, said Carrier.
"It's a serious argument to make for or against the WTO, and we
encourage that," he said, but "not masquerading as the WTO. It's
very deceptive, it literally steals the look of the WTO," he said.
The WTO is powerless to put an end to the masquerade until a new
procedure for domain name arbitration is introduced by the World
Intellectual Property Organization allowing it to take control of
the domain gatt.org, Carrier said.
Meanwhile, it would be possible to sue the creators of the parody
site for theft of the WTO's graphical identity, but "we are not in
the business of suing people," he said. "First of all, it's very
expensive, it takes a lot of time, and we are not that kind of
organization. It's not a course that interests the WTO at all."
The domain name gatt.org is registered to Jonathan Prince of
Washington, D.C., operator of the Web site killyourtv.com, but
another group calling themselves The Yes Men claim responsibility
for the WTO parody. On their Web
site, they claim that the parody has even resulted in them being
invited to speak at a conference on the WTO's behalf.
Martyn Williams in Tokyo contributed to this report.
The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.
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