www.gatt.org hits a sore spot

by Camille Dodero

For the most part, the World Trade Organization has carefully limited its public condemnations of anti-WTO activism. But one week before dreadlocked protesters gathered in the streets of Seattle (see "Seattle Was a Riot,") the WTO wiped off its diplomatic poker face and chastised one source of grassroots opposition: RTMark (or reg.(TM)ark).

RTMark is the same tech-savvy prankster organization that scooped up Internet domain names such as www.gwbush.com and www.yesrudy.com, and then used the URLs as tongue-in-cheek mouthpieces for candidate criticism. In the case of the WTO, RTMark painstakingly replicated the appearance of the international organization's Web site (http://www.wto.org) on http://www.gatt.org (GATT is an acronym for WTO forebear the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and spiked it with anti-WTO sentiments. The stunt infuriated the WTO, specifically director-general Mike Moore.

"WTO DG Moore deplores fake WTO websites," declares a November 23 WTO press release, available online at http://www.wto.org/wto/new/press151.htm.

Singling out www.gatt.org in his statement, Moore says, "The WTO and its members uphold the rights of others to criticize and comment on WTO affairs, including the right to protest publicly." But, he goes on to say, "Confusing the public is another matter."

At first glance, www.gatt.org is a dead ringer for www.wto.org: the design, color, and navigational structure are identical. But peruse the site for more than a minute, and www.gatt.org's "confusing" smoke and mirrors reveal themselves to be little more than dry ice and plexiglass.

RTMark says its spoof of www.wto.org is hardly believable. "Them attacking us was absurd," comments RTMark spokesman Fred Guerrero. "We're completely baffled by it."

RTMark also points out that www.gatt.org is not only an exercise in criticism and commentary, but also a form of public protest -- three things the WTO claims to support.

"We hoped to lend a hand in cyberspace to the protests on the ground," says Guerrero. "And it worked, if only because Mike Moore actually took the time to say something about it."

What does RTMark have to say for itself after being "deplored" by the typically tightlipped WTO?

"We're happy that we can define the fringe for the WTO," Guerrero laughs. "But tear gas and rubber bullets sound pretty deplorable to me."