Posted on 11/19/2003 9:37:08 AM PST by BillF
Mobile users told to 'chase Bush'
Protesters angry about the "security bubble" around President George Bush on his UK visit are being asked to use gadgets to be heard and seen.
The Chasing Bush campaign is asking people to "disrupt the PR" of the visit by spoiling stage-managed photos.
They are being encouraged to send location reports and images by mobile to be posted on the Chasing Bush site.
"We want to give people a chance to be a visible voice of dissatisfaction," said campaign organiser Tim Ireland.
Not smiling
Technologies like text messaging and weblogs have been successfully used in the past to co-ordinate routes and meet-up points for mass protests.
But the gadgets are now being used more proactively to make protests more visible and disrupt any potential stage-managing of the President's visit.
"We have been described as a second generation smart mob. We are encouraging people to use camera phones and send us e-mails with photos," campaign co-organiser Richard Wild explained to BBC News Online.
"We are trying to spoil the PR, so we are not doing anything directly, but encouraging people to protest by turning their backs in press photos so they can't be used."
The campaign organisers have also asked people to go into protest "exclusion zones" to send SMS updates and on-location reports about his appearances, and events at protests.
"We want to show everyone in the world we are doing this and we using the web channels to influence mainstream channels as much as possible," said Mr Ireland.
All the messages and pictures will be posted on the website as soon as they are received.
The site has been designed to be low bandwidth so it can be updated in real time via appropriate mobile phones using GRPS or laptops from anywhere, said Mr Wild.
Bush's 'bubble'
The massive security measures for the President's visit are unprecedented. A huge £5m police operation has been mounted with 14,000 officers covering the visit.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected at an anti-war march on Thursday.
The security measures have been put in place in response to fears about public disorder, but also a heightened terrorist threat from al-Qaeda.
A ring of 700 of the President's own secret service agents and security advisers will surround him in a mobile "bubble" amid fears of terror attacks.
Some newspapers and websites were reporting mobile phone signals could be blocked for fear they could remote-control a bomb.
But Scotland Yard has denied reports that police were considering shutting mobile phone masts during protests.
A spokesperson told BBC News Online they were "not prepared to discuss matters of security".
Although it "would be extremely unusual to do that, and authority would have to be cleared with all the appropriate regulators."
Interesting use of technology. Wonder what the leftists would say if we had used the same tactics to protest DIRT-XXX-POTUS, his blushing bride or other libs.
The site www.interwebnet.org is running Microsoft-IIS/5.0 on Windows 2000.
Oh my...
Someone should notify those poor boys that there are lots of critical security patches that should be applied in order to prevent hostile takeover of their site...
Thank God. With left-wing creeps here and abroad having completely lost their minds and openly rooting for eliminating the "Fascist" "Nazi" "Biggest Threat in the History of the Planet", is there any doubt that one of them will eventually try something?
We've been lucky the last 20 years, but Communist/anarchist/lonely losers are as much a threat as ever.
I double dog dare ya!
----------- Event Itinerary WEDNESDAY 19 NOV
PM: br>Visit to memorial to British victims of September 11th in Grosvenor Square Garden (map). Meeting with families of victims of September 11.
UPDATE: this meeting will now take place behind closed doors in the US Embassy just next to the gardens.
Mysterious delay due to general terror alert that's nothing to do with this visit.
Safe return for State banquet at Buckingham Palace (map).
Suspected:
Surprise address to the Houses of Parliament (map), but probably not in a debating chamber. Most likely The Royal Gallery. If it were in The Mediaeval Hall, they'd be able to hear you from the street.
SCHEDULED PROTESTS
(Too many to list in full here. More events and details can be found here.)
11.00: Alternative State Procession. Cavalcade with cyclists, taxi drivers, scooter clubs etc. following open carriage. Procession starting Jubilee Gardens near the London Eye (map). For more info see Stop the War Coalition - stopwar.org.uk
11.00: School students rally. Parliament Square (map). Tell your teacher you've decided to be part of history instead of just reading about it.
12.00: Street party, Malet St, just outside the University of London Union (map). Bring costumes, agit-prop, bikes and fun, for a good old fashioned street party (c/o Young Greens). For more info see this post at indymedia.org.
15.00: Resist Bush Tea Party at Buckingham Palace (meet Victoria Station 3pm - map). Mass protest and civil disobedience. Bring banners, placards, drums whistles, pots and pans... and tea. Non-violent event open to all people and actions provided that they 'don't harm or degrade any human being'. For more info see Resist Bush - resistbush.org
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IP Spoof attacks Posted by wild on 19/11/2003 at 16:47 GMT Hang on guys, we've upset the pro-war supporters and we're experiencing a concerted IP spoof attack which will slow the site down a little for a while.
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They seem to have a message board and are experiencing some sort of attack.
I would urge people not to do anything "attack" the web site because that just poisons the whole internet. On the other hand, if someone wanted to email them at bush@interwebnet.org with an opposing opinion, there is nothing wrong with that.
So... They're upset that Bush is being well protected? What's wrong with this picture?
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