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  The Holy See steals Vaticano.org
 
A feries of Texts,
on how the Vatican or Holy See, under the ultimate direction of
our Holy Father Pope John Paul II, infallible heir of Our Lord Jesus Chrift,
connived in extra-legal proceduref with a powerful trans-oceanic "corporation," or
Natural Person not embodied in Flefh,
to deprive those humans collectively called "0100101110101101.org"
of their rightfully and correctly obtained domain name, vaticano.org.

The Cleansing of the Internet: 0100101110101101.ORG loses "vaticano.org"

For a whole year "vaticano.org" was one of the (un)official organs of information of the Holy See. A huge site, aesthetically identical to the "real" one but with slightly modified contents, it was the result of a collaboration between 0100101110101101.ORG and Luther Blissett. The detournement of the holy texts involved tens of Blissett from the whole country, who were about to add German, Spanish and English language sections to the main, Italian one. For twelve months thousands of people visited "vaticano.org", and nobody realised that the contents of the site had been "retouched." There were dozens of texts, in which one could find everything: "heretical" proclamations, invented words, unpardonable errors and songs by 883 [an Italian teeny-bopper band], put into perfectly plausible contexts. From the site it was possible to address letters directly to the Pope. Strange instructions "hijacked" pilgrims into the most remote places. All in all, it was a "Free Spirit Jubilee."

At the expiring of the first year of contract, Network Solutions (the company that sells Internet domain names) prevented 0100101110101101.ORG from renewing the contract of "vaticano.org", which had been regularly bought. Network Solutions refused all the attempts of payment and, immediately upon the expiring of the contract, sold the domain name to a Catholic association in Rome.

> From: Domain Registration Role Account domreg@internic.net
> Subject: Re: MODIFY DOMAIN vaticano.org
>
> Your request for MODIFY DOMAIN vaticano.org. could not be automatically processed.
>
> Your request has been queued for manual processing. This request will be processed in
> accordance with established procedures.

At the moment the domain hosts a site under construction that will contain material about the Jubilee. This case of repression is not definitely the first on the Net. For some time many corporations have been trying to preserve their names' "respectability" by taking legal action (e.g. the case "etoys vs etoy"). For the first time, we are witnessing an operation of "cleansing" of the Net, through the monopoly of domain name administration. This is the highest, and perhaps the only, form of centralised control on the Internet. More money means better lawyers, and better lawyers own "truth". As to the horizontality of the Net and freedom of expression, fuck it.

The Vatican owns almost all similar domains (vatican.va, vatican.net, giubileo.va, etc.) and, the only one out of its monopoly was "vaticano.org," an island of free spirit in a sea of shit. Thanks to the indulgence of Network Solutions, the Holy See has laid its hands on "vaticano.org" as well. At the end of the day, "good people" always win.

Despite the loss of the domain name, the web site (unfortunately only in Italian), is still online at the url: www.0100101110101101.ORG/vaticano.org


Press coverage in Italy:

Repubblica, January 9, 2000: Fake site of the Vatican on the Internet

L'Unita', January 9, 2000: Joke on the Net for the Vatican Faked the official site on the Web

La Stampa January 9, 2000: Internet: for one year fake site of the Vatican

Il Giornale di Brescia, January 9, 2000: Internet, for one year nobody disclosed fake site of the Vatican

Resto del Carlino, January 9, 2000: Fake site of the Vatican on the Net for one year

Il Giorno, January 9, 2000: Fake Vatican site on the Net for one year.


(From Il Giornale di Brescia, January 9, 2000)

On the Internet, Pope’s texts with words by 883 [an Italian teeny-bopper band]
The Vatican mocked by hackers: fake site, for one year nobody realised it.

For a whole year and up until two days ago a fake site of the Vatican, almost perfectly identical to the official one but with some malicious modifications, was consulted on the Internet by unaware visitors. The joke was discovered in these hours: who visited vaticano.org during last year found a copy nearly identical of the official site of the Holy See (www.vatican.va), but with “re-touched” contents. In the texts published on the site, included the Pope’s interventions, were “heretical” proclamations, invented words, unpardonable errors and even songs by 883*: everything put in a “plausible” context. The action, conceived in an anticlerical and antagonist context, came up thanks to Network Solutions (the company that sells Internet Domain Names all over the world) who decided not to renew the contract to the ones who registered it. “At the expiring of the contract - one can read in the messages that are circulating in these hours on the antagonist sites - Network Solutions sold the domain to a catholic association in Rome”. At the moment the address www.vaticano.org hosts a site under construction that promises information on the Jubilee.

The domain, according to the archives of the society that sells them, seems to be registered by a software society in Rome. From the same archives comes out that, a site with a similar name, www.vatican.org, has been registered the 9 February 1999 by a certain Gerald Beals, a man who lives in the USA, Easton (Massachusetts).

According to the mailing lists that reconstruct the event, the work of detournement of the holy texts “involved tens of Blissett from the whole country, and was about to add German, Spanish and English language sections to the main, Italian one. For 12 months thousands of people visited “vaticano.org”, and nobody realised that the contents of the site had been “re-touched.”