Exxon's Brute Squad Hacks the Yes Men

tom_evil notes a story up on Infoshop.org about a parody site and the lack of a sense of humor in a large multinational. "One day after the Yes Men made a joke announcement of ExxonMobil's plans to turn billions of climate-change victims into a brand-new fuel called Vivoleum, the Yes Men's upstream internet service provider shut down Vivoleum.com and cut off the Yes Men's email service, in reaction to a complaint whose source they will not identify. 'Since parody is protected under US law, Exxon must think that people seeing the site will think Vivoleum's a real Exxon product, not just a parody,' said Yes Man Mike Bonanno. Exxon's policies do already contribute to 150,000 climate-change related deaths each year,' added Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum. 'So maybe it really is credible. What a resource!'"

Comments

Blame game.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not that anyone gives a damn, but is there any proof that Exxon actually was responsible?

Cue all the apologists

[rkcallaghan]

Remember folks, its not censorship when big business does it!

(Sarcasm-impaired mods: This post is a parody, much like the Yes Men's Vivoleum)

~Rebecca

Nice headline, guys!

[SEE]

First, we don't actually know that Exxon complained to the ISP, because the ISP did the takedown "in reaction to a complaint whose source they will not identify." You can argue that it's likely to be Exxon, but the fact is nobody knows.

Second, filing a complaint with an ISP is not the sort of action one implied by "Brute Squad".

Third, there was no hacking involved.

You know, the only way to improve this headline would have been to name a group other than the Yes Men as the ones who were cut off.

Re:Nice headline, guys!

[SEE]

Yes, bad form replying to myself here. But!

1) We know the Yes Men have previously masqueraded as ExxonMobil executives.
2) This takedown has generated additional publicity for the Yes Men.

Wouldn't it have been a master stroke by the Yes Men if they had faked their own ISP into taking them down by making the complaint themselves?

because the retaliation was to disconnect them

[putch]

i dont like the yes men either. i tend to agree with their positions, but i feel like they ultimately hurt their cause because they wind up looking like idiots and don't change any minds but just serve as entertainment for the most die hard of leftists.

nevertheless, their internet connection was turned off because exxon didnt like what they were saying. it's kind of disconcerting. had this been any group conservative, liberal or otherwise it is troubling that they can be wiped off the face of the internet.

that's why it's news for nerds and why you're flamebait.

Re:*sigh* Corproations have too much power

[Khaed]

This shouldn't be moderated flamebait -- it's true enough. The US is *NOT* the only country where something someone else finds offensive will get shut down.

Ask the people who dared publish cartoons depicting Mohammad. (Meanwhile, in the US, I don't recall violent protests of "Piss Christ" that ended with any buildings being set on fire...)

Yes, there are many examples of freedom of expression being squashed in the US. But to imply "Only in America..." Wait, *seriously*? You *HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT*? C'mon!

Re:*sigh* Corproations have too much power

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you going to out-vote Exxon with your wallet?

Re:Where are the facts

[canuck57]

Also if you are worried about the 150.000 deaths, don't use oil, except it's used in everything, even lubricant for windmills...

And how many lives have been saved by oil, might I suggest many of millions each year that rely on the fuel to transport food and drugs...

Re:Legal matters

[LehiNephi]

Bingo! It's important to keep in mind a few things on this very touchy subject:

• Exxon (or whatever other oil company) are not the ones burning the hundreds of millions of barrels of oil/gasoline/natural gas every year.
• Even if they were burning so much fossil fuel, Exxon only represents about 2% of the global oil production. They're the biggest private (i.e. not state-owned) oil company.
• Who's burning all that gas? Well, as I drive to work (in my 35 MPG civic), I'm surrounded by people driving Tahoe's, F150's, Escalades, Explorers, Durangos, enormous Dodge Rams, Tundras, etc. By some divine decree, every building in Houston is kept at a temperature around 70F (which most people agree is too cool for the summer). That's who's causing the 150k deaths per year.

Re:*sigh* Corproations have too much power

[LGagnon]

Corporations have billions of dollars. We have nothing close to that. When you vote with your wallet, you always have less votes than a corporation, because your dollars determine your votes. Voting with your wallet isn't democracy, it's oligarchy.

Re:*sigh* Corproations have too much power

[LGagnon]

This isn't about general censorship; it's about censorship for the sake of a corporation. The grandparent post was talking about the unfair power of corporations, which really is only that bad in America.

Re:nature of satire

[Tom]

I do believe that corporations in the US expect to be treated as a "person" under national and international law. You start your argument with a wrong assumption.

Corporations (in the US and elsewhere) employ entire squads of lawyers whose sole job it is to navigate the most profitable path through the jungle of laws. That includes demanding to be treated as a "person" whenever it is profitable to do so, and on the other hand demanding to be treated as a purely legal entity whenever that is more profitable.