actually BLO changed the voice boxes
of the barbie dolls, so that the gi joe voice
box was in the barbie and vice versa.
-- go/out http://thinkcontext.comScott Leonard wrote:
> Is this the same movement as the Barbie Liberation Organization? > They buy up Barbies, mutilate them for political effect, and re-shelve > them. They do interesting things with GI Joe's as well. > > There is an entertaining video documentary available in stores called > "Sonic Outlaws", which outlines the efforts of the BLO as well as > Negativland and Tape Beatles. > > Scott Leonard > lobsterjesusATyahoo.com > > "stereogab ......" <stereogabAThotmail.com> wrote: > > sorry for the poor formatting. > > http://www.nytimes.com/library > tech/00/08/circuits/articles/17rtma.html > Cultural Sabotage Waged in Cyberspace > > By ALISSA QUART > > THIS summer, Frank DeGraff, a 19-year-old college student, > decided that he > wanted to invest money through the Web, so he started > working three jobs. > When he had saved $200, he went to RTMark.com and placed the > money in one > of the site's funds, the Education Fund. > > But instead of money, the only returns he was promised were > acts of > cultural sabotage. Mr. DeGraff is hoping that his investment > will be used > for projects like making "anti-souvenirs," aimed at various > social > injustices and offered to tourists, or purchasing recorded > books by > conservative pundits so leftist speeches can be recorded > over the original > material and the tapes can be put back onto sales racks in > book stores. > Clearly, this is no typical investment firm. RTMark (its > name derives from > "registered trademark" but is pronounced "art mark") > describes itself as a > brokerage that "supports the sabotage of corporate > products." Its projects > have included switching voice boxes in Barbie and G.I. Joe > dolls and > creating Gatt.org, a look-alike Web site that lampooned the > World Trade > Organization. > > "Before I met RTMark through the Net," Mr. DeGraff said, "I > thought I was > alone in feeling like corporations were destroying this > country." > > But if the popularity of RTMark is any indication, Mr. > DeGraff is far from > alone. Last winter, the nine-year-old group managed to > summon thousands of > Web surfers to the defense of a small Swiss art project > called etoy > (www.etoy.com). The online toy seller eToys ( www.etoys.com > )had tried to > shut down etoy by filing intellectual-property trademark > suits, even though > the Swiss group had owned the domain name since ! 1995, > before eToys existed. > > While eToys demanded that etoy give up its domain name, > RTMark helped > coordinate a denial-of-service attack during Christmas week. > An estimated > 10,000 members of this network of cybercrusaders sent > multiple e-mail > messages to eToys, requesting information and using false > names to > subscribe to an eToys registry. The action, something of a > virtual sit-in, > brought down the company's servers. > > Ultimately, thanks in part to RTMark's efforts, the art > group won the > right to keep its domain name and received $40,000 from > eToys to cover > legal fees. > > But even after this very public action, RTMark remains > something of a > mystery. The group's three core members use assumed names -- > Candid Lucida, > Ray Thomas and Frank Guerrero -- and refuse to reveal their > real names. > They say they are in their 30's and work as aschoolteacher, > a lawyer and a > financial analyst. Their "fund managers" -- volunteers who > help bring! in > investments and help choose and allocate money to projects > -- also tend to > have a sketchy understanding of who is behind RTMark, they > say, because > most of their transactions occur via e-mail. > > Mr. Thomas says he puts 10 hours a week into RTMark and > lives in San > Francisco, thousands of miles from Mr. Guerrero, who lives > in upstate New > York. Ms. Lucida, who lives in Los Angeles, said, "We met on > the Web and > still work over the Net." > > Zach Exley, the network's collaborator on a parody George W. > Bush Web site > that drew complaints from the Bush campaign, said he had > never met any of > the three in person. > > "We behave like a corporation and stay anonymous to limit > liability," Ms. > Lucida said. In truth, some of the group's actions could be > considered > illegal, said James Boyle, a professor of law at Duke > University Law > School, but other actions could fall under "fair use" or > First Amendment > protection. "Mostly, they are relying! most on being small, > mobile and > intelligent," Mr. Boyle said. > > RTMark's motto is to attack without causing physical injury, > and its > projects sometimes go to extremes. There is the yearly > Corporate > Poetry Contest, for example, in which users send in actual > e-mail > exchanges with customer service representatives. > > Some entries sound like found poetry composed in > business-speak. > > This year, RTMark has championed small art sites -- among > them JKREW, > Leonardo magazine, Healthnet.org and Bigmissmoviola.com -- > in more domain > name skirmishes with corporations of similar names that have > told the > small sites to stop using those Web addresses. Among the > future projects > on its Web site is an action to place unconventional > greeting cards into > supermarket displays; the cards do things like > congratulating people for > eating free-range pork or congratulating gay partners for > their marriage. > > Faceless, playful political theater against big! business is > not new. RTMark > is a part of a lively strain in American protest politics > that includes > anarchists and Yippies. It is a contemporary cybercrusade. > > RTMark offers ideas for anti-corporate pranks without charge > on the Web, > much as online groups in the open-source movement believe in > making > technology available to users so they may alter it as they > see fit. Like > these groups, RTMark argues that the freedom to appropriate > and transform > corporate products and Web sites is good for intellectual > progress. > > As one of RTMark's supporters put it during the etoy > struggle, "The etoy > battle allowed us to point out that the Web has been > corporatized." > > Mr. Thomas said, "We want to show that domain-name lawsuits > companies slap > on artists are just like the lawsuits they spring on > ordinary people when > they are fighting toxic waste in their communities." > > But like any guerrilla network given to over-the-top > spectacles, RTMark > ! can make mistakes. > The Bigmissmoviola.com domain name struggle in June is a > case in point. > When J&R Film/Moviola Digital demanded that Big Miss > Moviola, a women's > film distribution network, refrain from using "Moviola" in > its Web > address, the network's 26-year-old founder, Miranda July, > got in touch with > RTMark. RTMark promptly sent irate e-mail messages to > J&R/Moviola's > employees and threatened another virtual sit-in, akin to its > etoys war. > > But this campaign had a different ending. For one thing, J&R > Film had > trademarked "Moviola" in 1965 for its brand of film-editing > equipment. For > another, J&R Film/ Moviola is a small family-run company > with about 60 > employees. > > "RTMark may have an interesting, important message about > corporate abuse > of power," said Dana Newman, a lawyer for J&R/Moviola, "but > our situation > simply does not fit neatly into their agenda." > > Ms. July, for one, has given up her fight. While! she still > respects > RTMark, she says, she feels that her battle was swept up > into the group's > larger agenda and tactics. > > "I could save the name Bigmissmoviola.com but be completely > defined by the > battle," she said. She has since given up the struggle for > the name in any > form and plans to rename her Web site. > > Nonetheless, the group's pranksterism continues to entice > "investors" and, > now, owners of New York City art galleries. In September at > Exit Art, > RTMark will present a parody on biotechnology and gene > patenting, using the > PowerPoint software that is often used for board-room > presentations. > Regarding that exhibit, and one planned at the same gallery > in 2001, Ms. > Lucida is typically blasé. > > "We appreciate the art world attention," she said, "but we > wouldn't want to > wind up in a museum." > > Mr. Thomas added, "We are activists, not artists." > > Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company > > __________________________! > ______________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at > http://www.hotmail.com > > ---------------------------------------------------- > Rumori, the Detritus.net Discussion List > to unsubscribe, send mail to majordomoATdetritus.net > with "unsubscribe rumori" in the message body. > ---------------------------------------------------- > Rumori list archives & other information are at > http://detritus.net/contact/rumori > ---------------------------------------------------- > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Do You Yahoo!? > Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! 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"While 'channel surfing' and 'zapping' are not insignificant, one of the attractions of contemporary entertainment media is the luxury of passivity and consumption, rather than the 'work' involved in actively constructing a text for oneself made up of fragments of other texts..." -Jonathan Bignell, Media Semiotics