Eveline Lubbers on Tue, 26 Jan 1999 17:45:42 +0100 (CET) |
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nettime-nl: Search engine wipt milieubeweging |
(Dit komt via & van Eveline Lubbers) Misschien beetje oud nieuws maar toch: Georganiseerde zware jongens krijgen het voor elkaar dat zoekmachine Lycos haar contact & contract met de milieuclub Environlink opzegt. Korte samenvatting: De Sahara Club blijkt in de V.S. in staat d.m.v. grote aantallen "hate e-mails" Lycos te beinvloeden om geen door hen als radicaal gedefinieerde milieuorganisaties op te nemen in hun search engine. De Sahara Club is een groepje zware jongens met motorfietsen die zich sterk maken voor het recht om te mogen off-road racen waar ze maar willen. Liefst in Nationale Parken, natuurlijk. Worden/werden gesponsord door motorenfabrikanten e.d. Ze hebben een speciale divisie die "The Sahara Clubbers" heet en die gaan bijeenkomsten van bijv. Earth First! af om deelnemers daaraan te intimideren met honkbalknuppels en kettingen en dergelijke. En vaak blijft het dan niet bij intimideren. A Clear View is de nieuwsbrief van CLEAR, een Amerikaanse consumenten research groep op gebied van media en milieu. A CLEAR View, Volume 5, Number 11 September 1, 1998 http://www.ewg.org/pub/home/clear/clear.html Features Off-Road.com declares slam a success, Lycos cancels EnviroLink contract. Norm Lenhart, managing editor of Off-Road.com (visit there now), an on-line nexus for motorized recreation enthusiasts, took a stab at a green web host in an August article. His attack appears to have had a dramatic effect. Lenhart described EnviroLink, which is home to hundreds of environmental web sites, as a "radical environmental web haven." Lenhart went on to criticize Lycos, the popular internet search engine, for partnering with EnviroLink. A handful of web sites on EnviroLink advocate direct action, including Earth First and Animal Liberation Front, which according to Lenhart, promote "ecoterrorism." Lenhart's article called for a barrage of letters to Lycos demanding cancellation of the contract with EnviroLink. Just ten days after the Off-Roaders began their mail campaign, Lycos ended its contract with EnviroLink, only three months after the two joined forces. Lycos denies any connection between the series of events. However, Lycos' attorney Jeffrey Snider, told CNET NEWS.Com that the Off-Road letters "pointed out to us some things about certain sites being served up under the EnviroLink domain that we didn't know about and we felt were misleading to our users. We will admit that it's misleading to our users to have those kinds of sites available [under a button that says] 'save the planet.'" (brackets in original, "Lycos ends environment site alliance," August 19, 1998. CNET NEWS.Com) Reuters News Service was a little more blunt, publishing the lead, "Lycos wants to save the planet -- but only if it can also pull in the hits and not generate any negative press." ("Lycos unplugs enviro group," Reuters, August 19, 1998). What Lycos doesn't know is that Off-Road.com has a long-standing beef with the environmental movement. Articles posted on the site often refer to environmentalists as "Nazis," "eco-Nazis" and "eco-nuts." Off-Road.com is tied to anti-environmental groups through overlapping membership and interests, some with violent messages. Off-Road.com hosts a monthly column from the Blue Ribbon Coalition, which should be a familiar name to regular readers of A CLEAR View. Funded in large part by mining interests, the Blue Ribbon Coalition was an original sponsor of the 1988 Reno Wise Use Leadership Conference and is active in the Wise Use/Property Rights circuit. More disturbing are the associations with the Sahara Club, an anti-environmental organization with a demonstrated hatred toward environmentalists, animal rights activists, and gays and lesbians. Sahara's newsletter has published articles advocating violence against environmental activists. Issue #35 suggested "If approached by enviro-Nazi protesters who attempt to loot your [logging truck] cab, or chain box, or damage your vehicle, apply pepper spray liberally to their faces, then demonstrate the proper dental technique using your 'swede' as a teeth extraction device." Rick Sieman, president of the Sahara Club, is listed as a regular contributor to Off-Road.com. Pat Martin of the Sahara Club reportedly "keeps the [Off-Road] files burning with chunks of data on our enemies, who the vermin are, and how to 'contact' them." (Sahara Club Newsletter #34). Though Lycos claims there is no connection between Lenhart's article and the contract cancellation, Off-Road took initial responsibility for the outcome. In an August 13 web posting, they stated, "...the factual article by Off-Road.com on the radical groups housed and supported by EnviroLink.org has affected Lycos' decision to associate with and or provide support for EnviroLink" and offered "Congratulations to Lycos!" If the article and letters were a factor in the contract cancellation, Lycos has been unduly swayed by a small interest group with a bitter and extreme anti- environmental agenda. The loss of Lycos' support has resulted in what EnviroLink's Executive Director, Josh Knauer, described as "a major budget shortfall." ("Internet firm drops Oakland Service," Tribune- Review, August 18, 1998). EnviroLink provides mailing lists, bulletin boards, chat rooms and web sites for environmental groups, often free of charge. Knauer defended the diversity of the site to the Tribune Review: "As with any community, there's going to be radicals, conservatives and people in the middle. EnviroLink takes no position on any of the issues, we just want the dialogue to be heard." For more information and copies of all press articles referenced, see the web site put together by Friends of EnviroLink, http://www.waste.org/oak~/. -- * Verspreid via nettime-nl. Commercieel gebruik niet toegestaan zonder * toestemming. <nettime-nl> is een gesloten en gemodereerde mailinglist * over net-kritiek. Meer info: list@dds.nl met 'info nettime-nl' in de * tekst v/d email. Archief: http://www.factory.org/nettime-nl. Contact: * nettime-nl-owner@dds.nl. Int. editie: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime.