Dow vs. Parody

tres3 writes "I stumbled across this item on Wired about Verio cutting off The Thing's Internet access after seven years of service. It seems that The Yes Men have upset DOW Chemical with their parody press release concerning a poison gas leak at the Union Carbide plant (now owned by Dow) in Bhopal, India, in 1984, that killed thousands. It was posted by RTMark.com, one of hundreds of customers (mostly artists and political activists) of The Thing, but has gone missing following the DMCA claims by DOW. Some European sites are now hosting the site here and here (slightly different). What really sent me into orbit was Dow's response to all of this. While writing this submission I noticed that I have become a victim of The Yes Men and "Dow's" response is actually one of their parodies! :-) The story is still valid but the only thing I could find that really came from DOW was the DMCA complaint (pdf) to Verio. To add insult to injury (and death (pun intended)) Dow has committed a reprehensible act, even for corporate America, by suing the survivors for ten years of income ($10,000) for protesting Dow's failure to clean up the mess. Greenpeace has set up a site for you to protest this action." We did an earlier story on this.

Re:But, did you know the net is only for commerce?

[PNut_Head]

What gets me here is that, get this, from Dow's own web site:

Actually, that is not from 'Dow's own web site'. It's from a site that is set up to look almost exactly like one sponsored, maintained or supported by DOW. It's not. It's an example of parody gone too far. There doesn't even seem to be a disclaimer about the entire site being parody.

The original post does however mention that the submitter was fooled as you were. It seems you did a good job and RTFA, but should have spent a little more time to RTFP more carefully.

Re:I wonder if the framers of the constitution...

[Twirlip of the Mists]

I mean, when did a *corporation* get the right to free speech?

You're asking that question backwards. There's nothing in US law that grants a right to free speech to anybody. The law just assumes that that right exists for all persons, individual and corporate alike.

A better way to ask the question would be, why should corporate persons not enjoy free speech?

Forcing a number of (presumably) individuals with something to say off the web with the stroke of a pen doesn't seem totalitarian to you?

Nope, for two reasons. First, they didn't have the right to say what they said in the first place; false representation and defamation are illegal, and are not protected by free speech. (Parody is, of course, but this work was not a parody. It was fraud.) Second, this activity wasn't a government action at all; the government was never involved. Rather, Dow complained to Verio and asked that they enforce their AUP, and Verio complied. The rules were laid down right from the beginning; Thing.net chose to ignore them, so they lost their service.

Re:I wonder if the framers of the constitution...

[kurt_cagle]

In the mid-1880s, at the (well-renumerated) insistence of the Railroad
companies, corporations were given all of the rights that hitherto had been assigned only to individuals via the Bill of Rights. Until that time, the rights and abilities of
corporations were highly restricted, in great part because Jefferson, Madison and Franklin
were all quite aware of what would happen if corporations did gain these rights. In many ways the original Revolutionary war was a corporate war - much of the exploration of the
American colonies was carried out by corporations that were looking for a cheaper source of raw materials and a captive market for their goods. When the American revolutionaries began to fight back, it was these same corporations that paid for the British troops, ships, and armaments, because they saw the actions as being harmful to their corporate interests.

Re:Dow's Responses

[Gatsby137]

I found this document [bhopal.com] while Googling for more info on the Bhopal disaster--it's more or less the story of the disaster and the ensuing legal mess from Union Carbide/Dow's point-of-view. (Google lets us view it as HTML here [216.239.33.100].)

I tend to agree with the above poster. I'm not usually one to defend a corporation, but it looks like Dow did make an awful lot of reparations. The actual truth of the matter, I'm sure, is obscured far beyond our ability to discern it, particularly by a few minutes of Googling. Cheers, Mike V.

A link to a Register Article about the issue.

[tres3]

I tried to send this to the story gods at slashdot as an amendment to my posting of this story. I guess that it didn't get there in time or they chose not to amend my submission (Although it was edited from the way I submitted it). Anyway here is a link to The Register's article [theregister.co.uk].

Re:Is this guy Related to Hitler?

[HiThere]

That was the spoof site. They didn't actually say that, they merely lived it.

Boycott Dow??

[Black Copter Control]

Dow is a Corporation. As such, they don't really respond to moral issues -- only financial issues that fall out of moral upsets. Saying "oh, Dow are nasty people" won't do much to get their attention. Cutting Dow purchases by 10%, on the other hand, would.

If you want to get Dow's attention, tell people to stop buying their produ cts, and tell them why. At the end of Dow's 2001 financial report [dow.com], they have a partial list of Dow and associated company trademarks.

I peeled out that data, paired it with the company name, and then sorted the result.. If you want to boycott Dow products, these names would probably be a good start.

I'll also place a copy of this list on my website ( http://www.bcgreen.com/dow/trademarks.html [bcgreen.com]) where I can update it as necessary. (147 references so far).
damn lameness filters force reformatting.

Affinity :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Amerchol :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Amplify :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Aspun :: The Dow Chemical Company
Attane :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Betabrace :: Essex Specialty Products, Inc.
Betadamp :: Essex Specialty Products, Inc. | | Betafoam :: Essex Specialty Products, Inc.
Betaguard :: Essex Specialty Products, Inc. | | Betamate :: Essex Specialty Products, Inc.
Betaseal :: Essex Specialty Products, Inc. | | Blox :: The Dow Chemical Company
Calibre :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Carbowax :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Cellosize :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | Confirm :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Covelle :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Cyracure :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
D.E.H. :: The Dow Chemical Company | | D.E.N. :: The Dow Chemical Company
D.E.R. :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Daxad :: Hampshire Chemical Corp.
Derakane :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Derakane Momentum :: The Dow Chemical Company
Dithane :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Dow :: The Dow Chemical Company
Dowex :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Dowfax :: The Dow Chemical Company
Dowflake :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Dowlex :: The Dow Chemical Company
Dowper :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Dowtherm :: The Dow Chemical Company
Drytech :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Dursban :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Elite :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Emerge :: The Dow Chemical Company
Envision :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Ethafoam :: The Dow Chemical Company
Ethocel :: The Dow Chemical Company | | FilmTec :: FilmTec Corporation
FirstRate :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Flexomer :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Fortress :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Fulcrum :: The Dow Chemical Company
Garlon :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Gas/Spec :: INEOS plc
Glyphomax :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Goal :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Grandstand :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Great Stuff :: Flexible Products Company
Hamposyl :: Hampshire Chemical Corp. | | Immotus :: The Dow Chemical Company
Insite :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Inspire :: The Dow Chemical Company
Insta-stik :: Flexible Products Company | | Instill :: The Dow Chemical Company
Intacta :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Integral :: The Dow Chemical Company
Intrepid :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Isonate :: The Dow Chemical Company
Isoplast :: The Dow Chemical Company | | LP Oxo :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Lamdex :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Lifespan :: The Dow Chemical Company
Liquidow :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Lontrel :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Lorsban :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Magnum :: The Dow Chemical Company
Maxicheck :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Maxistab :: The Dow Chemical Company
Meteor :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | Methocel :: The Dow Chemical Company
Mimic :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Mustang :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Mycogen :: Mycogen Corporation | | Neocar :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Opticite :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Optim :: The Dow Chemical Company
PAX System :: Michelin North America, Inc. | | Papi :: The Dow Chemical Company
Peladow :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Pellethane :: The Dow Chemical Company
PhytoGen :: PhytoGen Seed Company | | Polyox :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Polyphobe :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | Prevail :: The Dow Chemical Company
Primacor :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Procite :: The Dow Chemical Company
Pulse :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Quash :: The Dow Chemical Company
Questra :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Redi-Link :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Responsible Care :: American Chemistry Council | | Retain :: The Dow Chemical Company
Safe- Tainer :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Saran :: The Dow Chemical Company
Saranex :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Sentricon :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Shac :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | Si-Link :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
SiLK :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Spectrim :: The Dow Chemical Company
Spider :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Starane :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Stinger :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Strandfoam :: The Dow Chemical Company
Strongarm :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Styrofoam :: The Dow Chemical Company
Styron :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Styron A-Tech :: The Dow Chemical Company
Syltherm :: Dow Corning Corporation | | Synergy :: The Dow Chemical Company
Syntegra :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Tanklite :: The Dow Chemical Company
Telone :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Tergitol :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
The Enhancer :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Thermax :: The Dow Chemical Company
Tone :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | Tordon :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Tracer Naturalyte :: Dow AgroSciences LLC | | Treflan :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Trenchcoat :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Triton :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Trycite :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Trymer :: The Dow Chemical Company
Tuflin :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | Tyril :: The Dow Chemical Company
UCAR :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | UCAT :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
UCON :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | Ucartherm :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Unigard :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | Unipol :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Unipurge :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries | | Unival :: Union Carbide Corporation, & subsidiaries
Versene :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Vikane :: Dow AgroSciences LLC
Voracor :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Voralast :: The Dow Chemical Company
Voralux :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Voranate :: The Dow Chemical Company
Voranol :: The Dow Chemical Company | | Voranol Voractiv :: The Dow Chemical Company
Vydyne :: Solutia Inc. | | Woodstalk :: Dow BioProducts Ltd.
Zetabon :: The Dow Chemical Company