Jan. 28, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Press Release and Annual Report

NEW PROJECTS COMBAT CRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT

In response to The World Economic Forum Meeting at the Waldorf Astoria

Hotel in New York City (January 30 to February 3), RTMark investors

have sponsored several new projects to fight the corporate takeover of

public space and expression:

* The "reaming" of the WEF's website with automatic parody software

* "Ready-to-revolt" smart clothing

* Tear-gas tennis

* A virtual sit-in of the WEF's website

* Avoidance/destruction of surveillance cameras

* Street-writing bicycles

*****************************************

The World Economic Forum Gets Reamed

The Yes Men have released version 2.0 of Reamweaver, their automatic

website-parody software, and have set it loose on the World Economic

Forum website. "We think http://world-economic-forum.com is more

forthright about the WEF's goals than their real site is," said Andy

Bichlbaum of the Yes Men.

The free, open-source software (http://reamweaver.com) was first

released when the World Trade Organization tried to shut down Gatt.org

in November. "The WTO tried to capitalize on the post-9/11 climate by

attacking any kind of dissent," said Cue P. Doll, one of the

Reamweaver coders. "By automating the parody process, this software

scales web dissent from a small group to a global network, ensuring

the WTO's kind of tactics will never work."

******************************************

The World Economic Forum Gets Sat Upon

The Electronic Disturbance Theater is releasing a virtual sit-in

(denial-of-service) tool specially tailored for the World Economic

Forum website. Users are invited to join the cyber-protest at

http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/fools.html.

*******************************************

New Ways to Avoid or Destroy Video Surveillance

Two new projects help citizens regain some of their privacy by helping

them to avoid surveillance or destroy it. The Institute for Applied

Autonomy's iSee (http://www.appliedautonomy.com/isee/) is an

interactive map that shows walkers the path of least surveillance

between any two points in Manhattan. And for those who want to take

the direct route, an anonymous group explains how to disable

inappropriate cameras (http://rtmark.com/cctv/).

*******************************************

Bikes Paint Messages As You Ride (Project BIKE)

An anonymous investment of 0 has allowed the distribution of a

tool that turns any bicycle into a street-writing device. Bradley

Pitts (mailto:bmpitts9@hotmail.com), a spokesperson for the group

that created the tool, calls it "an efficient way to get a message

out on the street... over and over and over again."

(http://architecture.mit.edu/~atmarcus/bikewriter/writer.html)

********************************************

Pr -à-Révolter Design Civil Disobedience Equipment (Project PRET)

Concerned by the new police and government tendency to treat any

social movement as criminal, an investor has paid 00 to help

develop and deploy functional fashions for protest. The colorful

costumes are fitted with padding at shoulder and rib regions to ward

off baton blows, and miniature video cameras and transmitters to

broadcast police brutality live to remote recorders.

(http://www.sindominio.net/fiambrera/web-agencias/pretaverde.html)

********************************************

Athletes recruited for "Tear-Gas Tennis" (Project LACR)

An investor is offering 0 to the first lacrosse, tennis, or

jai-alai team that methodically catches and returns tear gas canisters

before they land among protesters. "Protests often turn violent

because of police actions, like shooting people with tear gas

canisters," said RTMark spokesperson Frank Guerrero. "Project LACR

opposes the violence with a bit of sporting fun, and it could help

keep a protester or two from getting seriously injured."

********************************************

LOOKING BACK: 2001 ANNUAL REPORT

RTMark posted reasonable cultural dividends for its investors in 2001,

but the gains were bittersweet as civil liberties went up in smoke and

authoritarian regimes instituted repressive policies on the ruins of

the World Trade Center.

The main dividends of 2001:

Impostors passed as the World Trade Organization at a "Textiles of the

Future" conference (http://theyesmen.org/finland.html) and on European

Marketwrap, a prime-time program on CNBC

(http://theyesmen.org/tv.html). An anonymous investment covered some

travel expenses.

A conference session on techniques to counter anti-corporate activism,

normally available for 5 to corporate clients, was made available

to activists for free at http://rtmark.com/prsa, thanks to an

anonymous donor.

One thousand vanity mirrors were distributed at the G8 protests in

Genoa, and were used to reflect the sun into the eyes of attacking

policemen (http://rtmark.com/archimedes.html).

A software development kit and book from http://hactivist.com,

entitled "Child as Audience", teaches anyone to reverse-engineer the

Nintendo Gameboy; it was co-sponsored by RTMark.

The same label that enraged Geffen Records with "Deconstructing Beck"

issued its fourth RTMark-sponsored release, "A Mutated Christmas"

(http://detritus.net/illegalart/xmas).

A catapult used to hurl stuffed animals over the fortress walls at the

Quebec FTAA meeting fulfilled Project MDVL and garnered a cash reward

for the creators.

Thousands of brochures advertising "Deportation Class" seating were

secretly placed in airplane seat pockets to illustrate how commercial

airlines traffic in unwilling human cargo (http://rtmark.com/luft).

The :CueCat, a freely available barcode scanner meant to help

advertise to people in their homes, was hacked into a tool for

learning about corporate misdeeds (http://rtmark.com/cuejack).

The "Heads and Tails Video Reclamation Program" which encourages

videotape renters to record public service messages over previews, has

resulted in hundreds of altered tapes across the US and Canada

(http://rtmark.com/fundlabor.html#DUBM and

http://rtmark.com/fundlabor.html#FLMC).

And finally, Dr. Andreas Bichlbauer of the World Trade Organization

has chosen the winner of this year's Corporate Poetry Contest: The

Organization of American States' "Chant to the OAS," in the

"Children's Corner" section of their website

(http://rtmark.com/corpoetry.html).



RTMark's primary goal is to publicize corporate subversion of the

democratic process. To this end it acts as a clearinghouse for

anti-corporate projects. A list of just-added projects is maintained

at http://rtmark.com/new.html.

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