FC: Gatt.org pranksters are back: WTO announces it will dissolve

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Fri May 24 2002 - 09:51:39 PDT

  • Next message: Declan McCullagh: "FC: Lawsuit against federal obscenity law asks for prosecution ban"

    Politech archive on the gatt.org pranksters' earlier exploits:
    http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=gatt
    
    --
    
    Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 20:18:37 -0400
    To: declanat_private
    From: Keith Dawson <dawsonat_private>
    Subject: A WTO hoax
    Cc: jonathanat_private
    
    Hi Declan -- This morning I received a press release apparently from the
    communications office of the WTO, with the headline: WORLD TRADE
    ORGANIZATION WILL DISBAND, REFOUND UNDER NEW CHARTER. It's posted at [1].
    
    The press release claimed:
    
       > As of September, agreements reached under the WTO will be
       > suspended pending ratification by the new organization,
       > tentatively referred to as the Trade Regulation Organization
       > ... Existing agreements ... each will be subject to individual
       > review for compliance with the TRO's charter, which is based
       > upon the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
    
    Disbanding for humanitarian reasons sounded quite unlike any WTO I had
    ever heard of. A little examination fingered the press release as a hoax.
    Further investigation revealed that it is an unusually well put-together
    hoax.
    
    In the past, the culture jamming groups The Yes Men and RTMark have
    acknowledged responsibility for WTO hacks originating at gatt.org [2]
    since just before the Seattle meeting of the WTO in November 1999. Don't
    know for sure who is responsible for the latest one. More details are at
    [3].
    
    [1] http://tbtf.com/resource/WTO-hoax.txt
    [2] http://www.gatt.org/
    [3] http://tbtf.com/blog/2002-05-19.html#1
    _______________________________________________________
    Keith Dawson   dawsonat_private   http://dawson.nu/
    Layer of ash separates morning and evening milk.
    
    
    
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
    You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
    To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
    This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
    Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri May 24 2002 - 10:16:51 PDT