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

[Bronc Buster <bronc@2600.com>]

[: hacktivism :]


Damn. At the present time I am down at Cisco and don't have much time, but
when I saw this I almost went nuts and made time for this short reply.

RTMark in their actions is totaly wrong, not even etoy want them
associated with them. RTMark continues to claim they have some group of
hackers, and a "torrent" of other groups they have joined with to fight
eToys actions. As to date no negative results have been noted by eToys but
a few unfounded stories in the media. In repeated interviews with RTMark,
and others involved, it is clear RTMark is out for coverage of themselves,
and not their actions, and they have no supporters (at least no one has
quoted or talked to any yet).

RTMark is giving the hacker community and the hacktivism community a
black eye, and I think others need to stand up and say what you support
when it comes to hacktivism, and that destructive actions are not one of
them.

Come on people...


regards,
   Bronc Buster
  bronc@2600.com

On 20 Dec 1999, eToys opponents wrote:

> [: 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 #
> 
> 
> 
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