The past 3 years have seen a huge struggle against the imposition of the World Wide Web programme across the internet. But the spectre of the WWW still haunts us. It poisons our minds, newsgroups and communities, buries our thought beneath a tide of images and texts. Increased prosperity for those behind the web page means more of us dead under the weight of logos. The cosy private comfort on the inside offers no relief to those stranded in the image war-zone on the outside.

In 1994, 50% of 7-8 year olds used the internet at school - now the figure is 9%. The others go by SafeSurf. It's too dangerous to let the kids out on their own - due to the volume of data trash. The World Wide Web pumps out self referemtial symbols, threatening the very existence of life on earth. Is this the world we want? Do we want more wars over belief, indigenous peoples slaughtered and their ideas decimated, just to fuel the engine of "e-cash growth"?

MAD WWW DISEASE is not terminal - the antidote is in our hands!

Networks can be places where kids play, the elderly watch the world go by, neighbours meet - in short, a place of community. In the modern World Wide Web people hurtle past in their own reflective worlds, all on their way elsewhere. The paranoia of The Cyber Angels replaces welcoming and open public spaces. Reclaiming the Networks is not just about rejecting The World Wide Web. It is about rediscovering the joys of retro networks.

Do you dream of a network where weblocked users abandon The World Wide Web to join in the network party? Where telephone users are not isolated diehards, but a force to be reckoned with? Where football isn't something happening on Web Radio, but a game played on in your neighbourhood? Where no Web Ad stands longer than a day, web marketing assembly lines stand still and data slicks are returned to their makers? Where politics is not a grey drip drip of policy from above but a splash of light from below?

RECLAIM THE NETWORKS!

Reclaim the Networks! is a direct action network committed to ending the rule of The World Wide Web. We are FOR posting letters, public telephones and cheap (free!) IRC, and AGAINST The World Wide Web and the vested interest it serves. We are not a send-a-donation / get-the-mag / sit-in-your armchair organisation. We are about getting involved and changing things through our own actions.

If you are interested in taking part in our activities send us your name and address for our mailing list rtn@gn.apc.org

20th October 1996