July 19, 2010 Updates:

Twitter Communiques From Fake French Foreign Ministry on Haiti Hoax
by Robert Mackey
The Lede Blog, NY Times
July 16, 2010

A group calling itself The Committee for the Immediate Reimbursement of Funds Taken From Haiti took credit on Friday for an elaborate hoax carried out this week in which an actor pretending to be a spokesperson for the French government announced that France would reimburse Haiti money it was forced to pay in exchange for its independence in the nineteenth century.

As The Lede explained on Thursday, the fake announcement was posted on a near replica of the French foreign ministry’s Web site on Wednesday in both video and text form.

In an update posted on a Twitter feed established this week, in the guise of France’s foreign ministry, the group, using the French form of its name, announced:

(more…)

Submitted by artist Stephen Barnwell:

Bailout for America
Artist Gives $535 Trillion to Stimulate Economy

[New York, NY] In light of these desperate economic times, New York-based artist Stephen Barnwell has given the United States of America an aid package worth an estimated $535 Trillion. On July 4th, this massive stimulus package was given directly to Congress with each and every US Senator and Representative receiving his or her own One Trillion banknote. It is Barnwell’s intention that they will serve as constant reminders of the true value of a trillion dollars, and of where our nation’s money is coming from. (more…)

Submitted by Andrew Boyd of Agit-Pop:

People generally find it notable when the Founding Fathers show up at your rallies.

And when Agit-Pop and the Campaign for Fair Elections sent Benjamin Franklin and friends to razz BP’s major lobbying firm, the Washington Post stood up and took notice.

In one of the cooler Agit-Pop actions in a while, the framers stood guard at the biggest fundraising hot spots in DC – and caught more than a few Congressmen taking their cues from Big Money, getting major press attention along the way.

Take part in more delicious Fair Elections Now hijinks – learn about July 4th events happening in your community.

- Andrew Boyd, Chairman of the Blurb, & John Sellers, Chief Existential Officer, Agit-Pop

photo: Fair Elections Now

Czech art guerrillas face police investigation over new project
Earth Times News
German Press Agency (DPA)
June 18, 2010

Prague – Czech art pranksters, whose Ztohoven art collective gained international notoriety for implanting images of a fictional atomic blast on live television, face legal action for their latest prank.

Police on Friday launched an investigation into the group’s latest project, during which 12 guerrilla artists lived for months under each other’s identity.

The action aimed to draw the attention to the omnipresent Big-Brother-like control of the public by authorities.

The artists applied for new identity cards with computer-altered photographs that combined features of two members of the group – the man who would use the card and the man in whose name it was issued. (more…)

Submitted by Kate McCamy:

Why Russian Art Group Voina ‘Dicked” a St. Petersburg Bridge
AnimalNewYork.com
June 16, 2010:

… St Petersburg’s renegade art-group of political pranksters – Voina (War) – turned a historic bridge into one giant “Fuck You!” to the Russian federal agencies. Here’s how they pulled it off.

Over the years, Voina staged many actions: police station take-overs, anti-homophobic faux-lynchings in malls, stray cat throwing into swanky restaurants, anti-Medvedev public orgies and all kinds of ruckus. Their most recent target: the headquarters of FSB, the offices of Russia’s KGB incarnate Federal Security Service. Our source: Voina themselves. (more…)

Submitted by David Strom from Strominator.com:

Photo Mix-up With Obama Is Called Hoax
By Joseph Plambeck
The New York Times
May 9, 2010

“Obama touts wind energy in Iowa,” a headline read on The Washington Post’s Web site in late April. But if a reader’s screen grab is to be believed, the headline ran with a photo not of the president but of Malcolm X. And in an age when any mistake is possible grist for a public flogging, this was a catchy gotcha.

In quick succession that day, the screen grab appeared on the Web sites of Gawker and New York magazine. For both sites, nuance was not in the cards.

“The Washington Post Cannot Tell Obama From Malcolm X,” the headline read on Gawker. Forty minutes later, New York’s Daily Intel blog described the image as “the very greatest news-website screen grab ever.”

Initially, The Post thought it was innocent human error. A separate article in its homepage slide show was about Malcolm X. But the next day, The Post dug through its edit logs and found no evidence of a mistake.

Andrew Alexander, The Post’s ombudsman, who had received about a dozen reader messages about the image, wrote last week that “after an internal investigation, Post editors have concluded the case of mistaken identity was most likely a hoax.”

But was it? (more…)

From the Institute for Public Accuracy:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 15, 2010

Corporation Running for Congress Following Supreme Court Ruling
Interviews Available

On Saturday, the Washington Post published a front-page story about the corporation Murray Hill running for Congress: “After the Supreme Court declared that corporations have the same rights as individuals when it comes to funding political campaigns, the self-described progressive firm took what it considers the next logical step: declaring for office.

“‘Until now, corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions
and influence-peddling to achieve their goals in Washington,’ the
candidate, who was unavailable for an interview, said in a statement.
‘But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the
middle-man and run for office ourselves.’ (more…)

Submitted by Jean Pockrus of Greenpeace USA:

---

PolluterWatch, a project of Greenpeace, has launched pHarmony, a matchmaking site just like eHarmony.com but dedicated to helping polluter industry lobbyists, CEOs, and propagandists match up with friendly public officials to make it easy to buy and sell influence and sabotage our clean energy future without ever leaving the house.

Related links:

HOAX NEWS: Russia attacks Georgia, Saakashvili killed
Russia Today (RT)
March 13, 2010

If one of your main news channels said your country’s been invaded and your president murdered – you’d no doubt be extremely scared. In Georgia, that’s just what’s happened. What’s worse is that the TV station only gave a brief warning that the Russian attack was a hoax – before frightening its primetime viewers for a good thirty minutes.

Related links:

Van Causes Scare Day Before Times Square Revelry
1010WINS
30 December 2009

New York (1010 WINS/AP) — A white van without license plates parked in the heart of Times Square caused a security scare Wednesday that rattled New Yorkers and thousands of holiday tourists milling about amid preparations for the city’s massive New Year’s Eve celebration.

Just weeks after a police-involved shooting in the area, the NYPD blocked off part of Times Square for about two hours starting at 11 a.m., calling in counterterrorism and bomb squads after officers noticed the 1992 Dodge van, which had a bogus law enforcement placard in the windshield, parked on Broadway between 41st and 42nd streets. (more…)

Hackers Briefly Bring Down Twitter
by Jessica E. Vascellaro
Wall Street Journal
December 18, 2009

Internet-messaging service Twitter Inc. was hit by a cyber attack Thursday night that temporarily steered visitors to a Web site with an anti-American message from a group calling itself the “Iranian Cyber Army.”

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said in a blog post Friday that the San Francisco company’s site was “hijacked” and 80% of traffic to Twitter.com was redirected between 9:46 p.m. PST and 11 p.m. PST Thursday. Twitter was operating normally Friday.

During the attack, Twitter’s home page was replaced with a Web site with a black background and a green flag, according to two people who saw it. The site’s headline read, “This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army.”

There was no evidence that the hackers are actually linked to Iran. Read the rest of this article here.

Related links:

The Monkey-Wrench Prank: An Interview With Tim DeChristopher
by Bryan Farrell
Mother Jones
November 13, 2009

How the Yes Men inspired a climate activist to impersonate an oil speculator—and derail a multimillion-dollar federal land giveaway.

During the final days of the Bush administration, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) scheduled a controversial auction of oil and gas leases on federal lands, including areas bordering national parks and monuments in Utah. While environmental organizations launched a round of protests and lawsuits, Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old econ major at the University of Utah, decided he had to try to stop the sale by himself. Not knowing exactly how he’d do it, DeChristopher walked into the auction in Salt Lake City on December 19, 2008, and had a sneaky idea handed to him in the form of a bidder’s paddle. Simply by raising it again and again and pretending to bid on the leases, he proceeded to drive up their prices and outbid the real speculators on 13 parcels covering more than 22,000 acres and worth $1.7 million dollars.

When it became clear that bidder No. 70 was an impostor with no intention of paying for his purchases, federal agents removed him from the auction. But the damage was done. DeChristopher’s monkey-wrenching tainted the sale, forcing BLM to offer the other buyers the option of withdrawing their bids. That effectively postponed any final decision on the leases until February 2009, when the Obama administration would be in office. Soon after taking office, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar canceled the results of the chaotic auction and criticized the previous administration for allowing it in the first place. (more…)

From Agit-Pop Communications:

On friday, Agit-Pop and the Billionaires for Wealthcare carried the rising tide of support for the Public Option into the very heart of the insurance industry – in song!

In the latest Agit-Pop – Billionaires collaboration, we infiltrated the closing keynote of the AHIP insurance industry conference and serenaded their leading pollster.

The guerrilla musical, set to ‘Tomorrow’ from the musical Annie, immediately went viral, appearing on the front page of Huffington Post, CBS.com and Rachel Maddow called it “the single most unexpected turn of events yet in the fight over health reform.”

Watch the 2 min video with lyrics here:

Yesterday it hit #2 on YouTube’s most Most Popular Videos, was shown on CNN’s Situation Room last night, and even Ashton Kutcher tweeted us.  :-)

Stay tuned for more from the Billionaires and Agit-Pop!

–John, Andrew, Andy, Avery, Duncan and the whole Agit-Pop! team.

ps. a huge shoutout is owed to all (singers, lyricists, name tag hackers, grass-roots advocates, video editors, secret camerapeople, crash-pad hosters, and the lady who waived our restocking fee at the Best Buy, as well as Pollster Bill McInturf himself) who made this action possible.

Submitted by Alex Case:

US Chamber Files Suit Against ‘Yes Men’ For Fake Briefing
By Ian Talley
Wall Street Journal
October 26, 2009

Washington (Dow Jones)–The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday filed a civil suit in a federal court against the group called the “Yes Men” for a fake press briefing the group held last week at the National Press Club.

The Chamber alleges in the complaint the Yes Men used its copyrighted emblem for a fraudulent press release, conference and Web site, in violation of trademark law.

Acting as representatives of the Chamber, the group falsely said the Chamber had switched its position on climate change policy. The group has claimed responsibility for a raft of public hoaxes on other companies in recent years. Following the stunt, the Yes Men launched for theatrical release in the U.S. a movie about their exploits.

The chamber said the lawsuit was filed after lawyers representing the “Yes Men” refused to decommission the fraudulent Web site, “another bold attempt to increase sales of merchandise and tickets to their new movie.” (more…)

Submitted by Peter Markus:

Germany: Fake candidate polls well
by Isabelle de Pommereau
September 10, 2009

Frankfurt, Germany – Life these days isn’t easy for Angela Merkel and her social democratic challenger in the Sept. 27 elections for chancellorship, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

As the parliamentary elections near, polls reveal people feel this is one of the most boring election campaigns in memory. The Germans just don’t care about their politicians.

Except, perhaps, for one. His name is Horst Schlämmer and he’s hugely popular these days. Like Mr. Steinmeier and Ms. Merkel, he wants the chancellor’s job – but with his own party, which stands for “Left, Liberal, Conservative, and a bit ecological,” and a platform that includes free plastic surgery for all, voting age at 12, and a monthly wage of 2,500 euros from cradle to grave.

According to a recent poll by Stern Magazine, 18 percent of those surveyed could see themselves voting for Mr. Schlämmer. If only they could. But Schlämmer cannot be elected. He is a fictitious candidate played by one of Germany’s best-known comedians, Hape Kerkeling, in a new film that mocks this year’s campaign. (more…)