etoy/eToys HACKER TV PRESS CONFERENCE AT MOMA TODAY, 6:30 p.m.

[eToys opponents <announce0081@rtmark.com>]

[: hacktivism :]

IN BRIEF: The event concerns the hacking attacks on eToys.com in response
to eToys' takeover of the art group etoy.com. We will announce the rapid
decline of eToys shares value that has been the result of the hacking
attacks. An eToys investor will be present to publically disinvest.
   Twenty santas with placards, a marching band, and a charismatic 
reverend will make this event very visually exciting for TV media. Speakers 
from most of the groups involved in the etoy/eToys dispute will be present 
and available for interviews. The event takes place within the Museum of 
Modern Art, New York City.

December 20, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HACKER PRESS CONFERENCE AT MOMA TODAY
Today (Monday, December 20), 6:30pm, 
Museum of Modern Art (Roy & Nina Titus Theater), 11 West 53rd St., New York

       Contact: mailto:etoyconference@rtmark.com
               (646)228-8822 (Friday 12/18 to Monday 12/20 only)
       More information: http://rtmark.com/etoy/
                         http://rtmark.com/etoypress.html

FULL RELEASE:

On November 29, freedom on the Internet suffered a potentially devastating 
blow when the e-commerce toy giant eToys was granted a court injunction 
against the European online art collective etoy (no "s"), forcing the much 
longer-established artists to stop using their domain name, etoy.com, which 
predates eToys' existence by two years. (Most recently, Network Solutions, 
the company that maintains the master list of internet addresses (domains) 
has blocked email service to etoy.com, though this was not mandated by the 
injunction.)

On December 12, RTMark, an online activist group, joined a torrent of 
activist outrage at eToys' attack by announcing a bold initiative 
aimed at raising public awareness of the situation. With a new series of 
on-line activities organized in a "mutual fund" structure 
(http://rtmark.com/etoy/), RTMark is helping to create a precedent that will 
show corporations that they cannot abuse the law on the Internet with 
impunity, much as the Internet-driven Brent Spar fiasco forced Shell and 
other petroleum companies to consider environmental impact before undertaking 
potentially destructive operations (http://rtmark.com/shell).

The "etoy Fund" and other anti-eToys campaigns have been so successful that 
the 40% drop in eToys' share price which began on November 29, the day 
of the injunction, has been widely attributed to the protests and to fear 
of their results. The campaign will continue and intensify during the last-
minute Christmas shopping rush.

The activities in the "etoy Fund" range from direct hacking and Denial of 
Service (DoS) attacks against eToys.com, to information campaigns directed at 
eToys investors on ETYS Internet message boards, to traditional boycotts and 
pickets. Several of the projects have already been a demonstrable success; 
perhaps most visibly, the "Virtual Sit-in" (http://rtmark.com/sitin.html), a 
sophisticated DoS attack in which tens of thousands have participated, has 
rendered the eToys servers uselessly sluggish at times.  (The RAND Corporation 
warned eToys this could happen, apparently to no avail; see 
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/19991215/1754367s.htm.)

Confirmed speakers and participants in Monday's press conference include etoy 
spokespeople, creators of Eviltoy.com, the Electronic Disturbance Theater 
(developers of the Virtual Sit-in software), Fakeshop (designers of the 
Virtual Sit-in pages), spokespeople for other embattled domains (http://rtmark.com/etoyother.html), Santas Against eToys (we expect about 
twenty), The Hungry March Band, Reverend Billy, the computer buyer's advice 
columnist for iVillage.com, and Internet advisory Rhizome. Question-and-
answer periods will follow each speaker.

BACKGROUND

eToys is the third largest e-business on the Internet; etoy.com, which eToys 
lawyers have shut down, is the domain synonymous with the oldest, best-known, 
and most influential Internet art group, etoy. etoy has owned etoy.com since 
1995, before eToys existed, and two years before eToys registered its own URL. 
etoy.com has never made any reference to eToys. See 
http://rtmark.com/etoypress.html for more information.

RTMark, which is in no way associated with etoy, aims to publicize the 
widespread corporate abuse of democratic institutions like courts and 
elections. To this end it solicits and distributes funding for "sabotage 
projects"; the groups of such projects are called "mutual funds" in order to 
call attention to one way in which large numbers of people come to identify 
corporate needs as their own. RTMark projects do not normally target specific 
companies; the etoy Fund projects are an exception.

RTMark is no stranger to the hot topic of domain-name control. The World 
Trade Organization's press release about http://gatt.org, accusing RTMark of 
"illegal practices" in publishing information critical of the WTO at that 
site, merely brought the WTO ridicule from the press 
(http://rtmark.com/gatt.html); George W. Bush's and Microsoft's legal attacks 
on GWBush.com (http://rtmark.com/bush.html) and MicrosoftEdu.com 
(http://rtmark.com/allpress.html#mse) failed to affect the domains. See also 
http://rtmark.com/othersites.html for more on this issue.

                             # 30 #



[: hacktivism :]
[: for unsubscribe instructions or list info consult the list FAQ :]
[: http://hacktivism.tao.ca/ :]