12.23.2002

Thanks for the thoughts mr Brett.

It is all too true.

At this moment in time any support would
be incredible - from legal to a donation.

https://secure.thing.net/backbone/

Happy Holidaze to All.

ricardo

——- Original Message ——-
From: "Brett Stalbaum" <beestal@cadre.sjsu.edu>
To: <list@rhizome.org>
Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 5:47 AM
Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: THING.NET EVICTED FROM INTERNET (fwd)

> If this press release from rtmark is as stated (I have no reason to think > it is not), then clearly the DMCA is being implemented for political ends > in a pretty daring way. Taking down an entire ISP (and all unrelated
> accounts) for the actions of just one of its clients is probably a prima > facie affront to the first amendment all by itself. But when taken in the > context of the kinds of activist work supported by thing, well, lets just > say we know who the targets are. It could hardly be more blatant. There > are a lot of ISPs out there, no doubt, who have had DMCA complaints
> against individual hosting clients. I wonder how many have been uncoupled > from the backbone?
>

> I'd like to add a few other examples to rtmark's list to make for overkill > on the previous point.
>

> Ricardo Dominguez
> http://www.thing.net/~rdom/
>

> Coco Fusco
> http://www.thing.net/~cocofusco/
>

> Not to mention any number of anti-war projects hosted on thing. Good
> timing, no?
>

> But the action here of cutting the root to kill the offending leaves also > takes with it any number of non-activist art projects. Thing hosts a 1998 > work of my own that is in no way in an activist mode.
> (http://www.thing.net/~beestal). To get an overall sense, check out
> bbs.thing.net and check out the variety of art sites they host. Maybe wish > them a good-bye or some good luck.
>

>

> ————— Forwarded message —————
> Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 03:04:03 -0500
> From: RTMark Press <ann45@rtmark.com>
> Subject: THING.NET EVICTED FROM INTERNET
>

> December 23, 2002
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>

> Thing.net assistance page: https://secure.thing.net/backbone/
> Contact: mailto:thing-group@rtmark.com
>

> ACTIVIST NETWORK IN NY EVICTED FROM INTERNET BY DOW, VERIO
>

> Bowing to pressure from the Dow Chemical Corporation, the internet
> company Verio has booted the activist-oriented Thing.net from the Web. >

> Internet service provider Thing.net has been the primary service
> provider for activist and artist organizations in the New York area
> for 10 years.
>

> On December 3, activists used a server housed by Thing.net to post a
> parody Dow press release on the eighteenth anniversary of the disaster > in which 20,000 people died as a result of an accident at a Union
> Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. (Union Carbide is now owned by Dow.)
> The deadpan statement, which many people took as real, explained that > Dow could not accept responsibility for the disaster due to its
> primary allegiance to its shareholders and to its bottom line.
>

> Dow was not amused, and sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) > complaint to Verio, which immediately cut Thing.net off the internet
> for fifteen hours. A few days later, Verio announced that Thing.net
> had 60 days to move to another provider before being shut down
> permanently, unilaterally terminating Thing.net's 7-year-old contract. >

> Affected organizations include PS1/MOMA, Artforum, Nettime, Tenant.net > (which assists renters facing eviction), and hundreds more.
>

> "Verio's actions are nothing short of outrageous," said Wolfgang
> Staehle, Thing.net Executive Director. "They could have resolved the
> matter with the Dow parodists directly; instead they chose to shut
> down our entire network. This self-appointed enforcement of the DMCA
> could have a serious chilling effect on free speech, and has already
> damaged our business."
>

>

> RTMark, which publicizes corporate abuses of democracy, is housed on
> Thing.net. Please visit https://secure.thing.net/backbone/ to help
> Thing.net survive Dow's and Verio's actions, and to develop a plan to > avoid such problems in the future.
>

> # 30 #
>

> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
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