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Truth or Spoof?| Category | | | Summary | | The World Trade Organization (WTO) has found itself subject to a very elaborate internet hoax. A group called the Yes Men (who describe themselves as a network of imposters) take credit for the spoof site that is causing a stir at the WTO. |
| | Body | | The site itself Gatt.org even looks very similar to the official WTO site wto.org also GATT is an abbreviation of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which was the organization which was the predecessor to the WTO.The Yes Men have on a number of occasions impersonated WTO officials sometimes successfully. As a result of the spoof site members of the Yes Men have been receiving e-mails meant for the Director General of the WTO to speak at conferences, these mails were returned stating the Mr. Moore was not available but they could send a replacement speaker.On one occasion at a textile conference in Finland, A bogus WTO official making a presentation removed his clothes to reveal a golden leotard with a 4ft long golden phallus containing what he called video interface which could be used to deliver electric shocks to employees in the developing world who were not working hard enough. A spokesperson for the Yes Men said that nobody at the conference seemed to spot the hoax. The main complaint at the time, he said, was from a woman who said the phallus metaphor was inappropriate because women too could exploit workers.The WTO is not the only victim of spoofsters, the American White House WhiteHouse.gov also has a spoof site WhiteHouse.org . On the spoof site you will find articles like "Operation Infinite Purity" where Americans are winning the war on masturbation and "Transcript of President Bush's "Primary Super Tuesday Radio Address to the American People"" where President Bush says "You know, we have a long history in this country of people being parts of elections. From the very beginning, when Magellus arrived at Plymouth Rock, he stood tall and said, we've had enough of kings, queens, and jacks. In this land, we're going to vote for our leaders. And just as soon as we're done slaughtering all these mow-mow-talking, feather-wearing, long-haired teepee darkies, we'll get down to business and design some imminently fair, easy-to-use butterfly ballots which will ensure that our election results are completely and totally fair and accurate and unquestionable".Who knows what else may be out there. One thing is for sure, the spoofs are getting better and better as technology allows people to create or just plain rip off websites. Also a contributing factor is the low costs and ease of owning your own .com, these days just about anyone can own a .com for sometimes as little as $10 for the domain and with so many cheap web hosts breaking into the $5-10 per month region it has never been so easy. |
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This article was imported from zZine. (original author: HTTP404)
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