Other 'freedom' issues coming up in the world beyond software? Thanks to Raju Mathur of Delhi for forwarding this. FN From: Meredith Tupper <meredith(a)pintsize.com> To: isp-webhosting(a)isp-webhosting.com Subject: [isp-webhosting] thing.net shut down by Verio Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 17:58:48 -0400 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 # ------------------------------ End of this Digest ****************** -- Raju Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ It is the mind that moves --__--__-- Message: 2 Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 03:59:17 -0800 (PST) From: sabrina syed <sabrina_syed2002(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [india-gii] [OT] (fwd) thing.net shut down by Verio To: india-gii(a)lists.cpsr.org Hi, In its defense, Dow is saying, "...Thing.net have been evicted from the web, we firmly believe that those who violate the right to Corporate Free Speech have no place on a commercial network like the internet. " http://www.dowethics.com/r/environment/freedom.html ...."commercial network like the internet"???Does it mean purely commercial? what abt non-commercial interests? Can any one throw light on last line of Dow's claims tht, internet is purely commercial? If this claim goes unquestionable, then who owns internet? Internet has potential to advance commercial interests. That doesn't mean non-commercial interests,should give way to freedom of speech of those who propagate their commercial interests. Does this precedent mean organisations running, .orgs and governments running, .govs and .infos and .nets have less freedom of speech than those who invest money in suing others on the claims of image erosion or defamation? What happens if thing.net counter sues Dow /Verio for defamation and intervention into it's own freedom of speech? Can't thing.net get an "asylum" on some other non-us based server? What are the stakes involved if it does tht? Regards, Sabrina. ___________________________ Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) is the oldest non-profit, mass membership organization working on social impacts of computer technology. To learn more, go to http://www.cpsr.org To join, visit: http://cpsr.org/join.html _______________________________________________________ india-gii mailing list india-gii(a)lists.cpsr.org https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/india-gii