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INFOWAR: Digital Zapatismo
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ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 98
INFOWAR. information.macht.krieg
Linz, Austria, september 07 - 12
http://www.aec.at/infowar
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Digital Zapatismo
by Ricardo Dominguez
Zapatismo has infected the political body of Mexico's "perfect
dictatorship" since January 1, 1994. This polyspacial movement
for a radical democracy based on the Mayan legacies of dialogue
ripped into the electronic fabric not as InfoWar--but as virtual
actions for real peace in the real communities of Chiapas. As of
September 1997 reports of The Mexican military training and arming
paramilitary groups with the intent of moving the "low-intensity"
war to higher level began to circulate among the Zapatista Network.
It took the massacres at Acteal to focus the world on something that
was already known--the constant tragedy of late-capital.
As manifestations took place around the world in remembrance of the
Acteal dead on January 1 and 2nd, the Mexican military with the full
support of the PRI government began the next stage of the war against
peace. As the West stumbled about in celebration of a new year--the
first reports reached out across the net and slapped us awake once
more with the brutal reality of the neo-liberal agenda.
1.0 Beta Actions
This time Zapatista Networks responded with a new level of electronic
civil disobedience beyond the passing of information and emailing
presidents. On Sunday the 18th of January 1998 a call for NetStriking
for Zapata (from Anonymous Digital Coalition) came in via email with
the following instructions:
In solidarity with the Zapatista movement we welcome all netsurfers
with ideals of justice, freedom, solidarity and liberty within their
hearts, to a virtual sit-in. On January 29, 1998 from 4:00 p.m. GMT
(Greenwich Mean Time) to 5:00 p.m. (in the following five web sites,
symbols of Mexican neoliberalism):
Bolsa Mexicana de Valores: http://www.bmv.com.mx
Grupo Financiero Bital: http://www.bital.com.mx
Grupo Financiero Bancomer: http://www.bancomer.com.mx
Banco de Mexico: http://www.banxico.org.mx
Banamex: http://www.banamex.com
Technical instructions: Connect with your browser to the upper
mentioned web sites and push the bottom "reload" several times for an
hour (with in between an interval of few seconds).
This virtual sit-in not only brought the possibilities of direct
electronic actions to the forefront of the Zapatista networks, it
also initiated a more focused analysis of what methods of electronic
civil disobedience might work. Several questions were brought up on
the issues of net traffic, ISPs, and small international pipes.
Speculations on the technological implications of these actions began
to focus on questions of Who is most likely to be damaged by this
move? The Mexican target banks or the Internet Service Providers,
ISPs, who route data to these banks? As these discussions were
taking place a group of Mexican digital activist on February 4,
1998 hacked into a Mexican government home page on the Internet
and placed pro-Zapatista slogans on the front pages of the site.
On April 10, 1998 the NYZapatistas in conjuction with the ECD
Group sent out this call for action:
Flood Net: Tactical Version 1.0
http://www.thing.net/~rdom/zapsTactical/zaps.html
In solidarity with the Zapatistas we call on
all netsurfers to use the automated features
of Flood Net(Tactical Version 1.0) on 10th of
April for 24hrs.
We will be Flooding President Zedillo´s site
http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/
You could connect with your browser to a targeted
web site and push the bottom "reload" several
times for an hour(with an interval of few seconds
in between)
OR
Just keep your browser tuned the Flood Net:
Tactical Version 1.0 URL, where a Java Applet will
hit reload for you"
You can also send them email using the automail system
at:
http://www.newhumans.com/chiapas/automail.html
For more information on the action:
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/wray/ecd.html
The Flood Net URL hit Zedillo's site a total of *8141* times.
Many reported that Zedillo's site was no longer responding. A
second mirror site was put into action on the afternoon of
the 10th at:
http://cadre.sjsu.edu/beestal/zapsTactical/zaps.html
At this time we do not have the stats on this URL. Also it is
difficult to say how many hits it took for Zedillo's site to nolonger
respond. More research is needed in defining the specific numbers
needed to move the gesture from a symbolic position to a direct
action-effect.
1.1 Counter Attacks
We also know that during the time of the action someone from Mexico
attempted to remotely break into server at Thing.net several times
and failed. Machine *t3s31.data.net.mx* (http://www.data.net.mx/)
tried to get access on three Thing.net machines on April 9th and 10th.
Also one of the members of the NYZapatistas who posted information
about the Flood Net action on his Homepage was hit with a spam of
over 3000 emails. Some of them containing odd subject headings,
such as *We Are Watching You*.
1.2 Beyond Soft Hacking
Digital Zapatismo has always been an open system of sprawling
networks-this has been the force multiplier of the movement.
It has used digital cultures most basic system of exchange,
e-mail between people to disturb the Informatic State. Now that
we know that they are using, as we always suspected,
hyper-surveillance filters to regain control of the network.
We must begin to invent other methods of Electronic Civil
Disobedience:
1. Continue building alternative networks with more access
and bandwidth.
2. Deep programming:
Creating Spiders, Bots, and other (minor network agents) to move
against specific URLs without interrupting the Server. The first
Zapatista Spider should be available by the end of May.
3. Offshore spamming engines for massive e-mail actions.
4. Virtual proximity capabilities: Thing Connector 3.0.
A simple access systems for Real Time intercontinental
electronic communication. These type of system would disable
the possibility of surveillance.
5. A Satellite:
Giving us autonomy from controlled networks and backbones.
6. Jamming Chips:
Jamming of microchips by groups could systematically disrupt wide
areas of sensitive networks. These groups could slip basic
disturbances into the chips bought by the U.S military-entertainment
complex from foreign countries. Many of these elements are part of a
wide range of defensive and offensive weapon systems--that could
induce a general dysfunction in performance at a pre-set time.
1.3 Theatres of Disturbance
The Zapatista Networks, in the spirit of Chiapas are developing
methods of electronic disturbance as sites of invention and political
action for peace. At this point in time it is difficult to know how
much of a disturbance these acts of electronic civil disobedience
specifically make. What we do know is that since Jan 1, 1994 the
analysis of the Digital Zapatismo has been at the top of the list of
the Military and Intelligence research agenda. We hope that both
coordinated and uncoordinated actions can, like the Lilliputians,
constrain this violent giant by many tiny bonds. For now all we can
do is continue to forge ahead and always remember that all of this
electronic activism is about a real community in search of a real
peace. A community that has been calling for a world the makes all
worlds possible.
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