Vaticano.org: The First Internet Coup

 

The night of the 10th December 1998 begins the action that will go down in history as The First Internet Coup. Over 24 hours, a commando takes posses of the official online organ of information of the Vatican State, or the Holy See. The commando buys the domain name vaticano.org pointing it to a Canadian server, where has already been created a huge website esthetically identical to the official one (www.vatican.va).
An editorial network works 24-7 with precise instructions: copy as many texts as possible from the official website, modify them slightly and publish them in the fake one.
Like the Pope, 0100101110101101.ORG has decided to open the Holy Doors of the Net to pilgrims from the whole world: from the moment in which Vaticano.org is opened, a huge stream of visitors pours into the fake website. Over one year the spoof website reaches more than 4 million hits: a one-year radical performance and the Net will never be the same.