only one written statement has been inofficially issued by lisa goldman

strider@construct.net -
Fri, 10 Sep 1999

from reliable sources we also learned that jury-member joichi ito has read a statement at the award ceremony, denying any connection between the email and the net.art jury...

unconfirmed rumors circulated at the ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL... one of them is regarding the bribe paid to ARS jury-members by MICROSOFT; USD 50000 for LINUX lobbying...
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Prix Ars Electronica Gala, Golden Nica: NET, Ms. Torvalds (Sister of Linus Torvalds) with Kurt Martinek

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the jury

derrick de kerckhove [canada]; media theory, university of toronto, mc luhan institute

lisa goldman [USA]; chair multimedia festival, "construct"

joichi ito [japan]; producer, net expert, webmaster

declan mccullagh [USA] journalist "wired"

marleen stikker (the netherlands]; centrum de waag, amsterdam

ARS ELECTRONICA has been immediately contacted by over 100 journalists on monday, sep 6, 1999; the morning after the email has been sent to over 89.000 individuals;

etxtreme.ru has contacted ARS officials to find out more... read the official dialogue...

official email by etxtreme.ru
reply by ARS ELECTRONICA

no official press statement has issued by ARS ELECTRONICA. no proactive contact was established between ARS and etxtreme.ru or involved individuals.

these old school pr_strategies are a reminder on past corporate strategies, way back in the 80s. since the 90s, it is generally known that this is the worst way to deal with attacks...

proactive use of such "free" PR could lead to a turn-around. but ARS ELECTRONICA [desperately trying to build up a strong brand for new media, radical media-art and network.art] seemd totally frozen, ... or they just thought our PR was strong and professional enough... we dont know... we dont care...