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FYI,<br>
For some reason, the Yes Lab messages are bouncing. Since it is of
interest, I'm forwarding the bounce in lieu of the original. If
anyone needs the attachment, I can froward that offlist to you on
your request.<br>
Mike <br>
<br>
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<td>Uncaught bounce notification</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:29:46 +0000</td>
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<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:mailman-bounces@lists.chambana.net">mailman-bounces@lists.chambana.net</a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
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<pre>The attached message was received as a bounce, but either the bounce
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Bank of America still not yours... yet.</td>
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<div class="headerdisplayname" style="display:inline;">From:
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The Yes Lab <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:mailing@yeslab.org"><mailing@yeslab.org></a></td>
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4/19/2012 8:29 AM</td>
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imc-bounces-lists.ucimc.org
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:imc-bounces@lists.ucimc.org"><imc-bounces@lists.ucimc.org></a></td>
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<p>April 19, 2012<br>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</p>
<p><strong><font size="+1">ON-THE-BRINK BANK STILL NOT YOURS (YET)</font>
<br>
</strong><em>Dow Jones posts fake release for two hours; bank
gets fake website blacklisted, briefly</em></p>
<p> Contact: <a href="mailto:bofa@yeslab.org">bofa@yeslab.org</a>
</p>
<p>Bank of America executives, investors, and opponents alike
reacted with surprise to yesterday's <a
href="http://yeslab.org/yourbofa-announce">news</a>—posted for
two hours on <a
href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/04/18/bank-america-is-target-fake-press-release/">Dow
Jones Newswire</a> and elsewhere—that the mammoth financial
institution, realizing it was heading for a taxpayer bailout,
was asking Americans to start thinking about <a
href="http://www.bank-of-you.com/ideas">what they'll do with
the bank</a> once they own it, and to start <a
href="http://bank-of-you.com/gallery">advertising that vision</a>
too.</p>
<p>The news, of course, was a hoax. </p>
<p>The fake <a href="http://www.bank-of-you.com/">YourBofA.com
website</a> was quickly, but temporarily, blacklisted by
Google as a potential "phishing scam," despite the site
containing no forms, spyware, or other characteristics of a site
engaging in phishing. Firefox and Google Chrome users who tried
to load YourBofA.com were warned that the site may be
"dangerous," while some individuals with Gmail accounts reported
that emails containing the URL were bounced back or not
delivered. An <a
href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/18/google-blacklists-bank-of-america-parody-website/">investigation</a>
by Raw Story concluded that "It's likely that Bank of America
reported the site to Google as a phishing scam." Shortly after
the article's publication—and with the help of thousands of
volunteers complaining to Google—the website was taken off the
blacklist.
</p>
<p>
Today's <a
href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-america-profit-slumps-68-2012-04-19">reports
of slumping profits</a> make the fake site all the more
timely.
"This site is a forum for people to imagine what they could do
with this bank," said Jane O'Heely of the Yes Lab, one of the
site's creators. "The <a
href="http://www.bank-of-you.com/ideas">ideas</a> we've gotten
already show we all know as much as bankers about how a bank
ought to be run—and actually, a good deal more." </p>
<p> "A bank doesn't have to be something that charges you fees,
invests your money in things you abhor, destroys poor
communities with predatory lending, and then threatens to take
down the global economy if you don't agree to bail it out," said
Logan Price, who helped create <a
href="http://www.breakupbofa.com/">BreakUpBofA.com</a>.
"Thinking of alternatives to <a
href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-20120314">this
nightmare</a> is not rocket science."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The hoax was perpetrated by means of a <a
href="http://yeslab.org/yourbofa-announce">fake press release</a>;
it was followed two hours later with a <a
href="http://yeslab.org/yourbofa-retort">fake angry retort</a>,
so that no journalist would be fooled for very long. "We wanted
to get people thinking about how they'd run banking differently,
not to really fool anyone," noted O'Heely. "The whole fake
release thing was just a way to publicize it and get people
posting <a href="http://bank-of-you.com/ideas">ideas</a> and <a
href="http://bank-of-you.com/creative">ads</a>." </p>
<p> "Any response by Bank of America would just help spread the
word, and they seem to know that," added O'Heely. When Bank of
America got Google to <a
href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/18/google-blacklists-bank-of-america-parody-website/">blacklist
the website as "phishing"</a> (which it was not), the Yes Lab
mobilized 4000 volunteers to complain, which quickly worked to
de-list the site and give this press release a small extra hook.
</p>
<p>The website's centerpiece is <a
href="http://bank-of-you.com/ideas">an open call</a> to
American taxpayers to begin considering what they will do after
a bailout, when they'll have a chance to become the company’s
majority owners. The "bank" also asks the public to advertise
their visions with a <a href="http://bank-of-you.com/creative">tool</a>
for generating <a href="http://bank-of-you.com/gallery">web
banners—images that could</a> give Bank of America a very real
"google problem" not unlike <a
href="https://www.google.com/search?q=chevron+%22we+agree%22&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=geGGT9ysIunn0QHMjZ3sBw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1058&bih=631">Chevron's</a>.
The site also includes a letter from CEO Brian Moynihan that
admits to <a href="http://bank-of-you.com/lessons-learned">the
bank's many failings</a>—short-sighted investment decisions
and the massive accumulation of le gal liabilities, causing
plummeting share prices and inexorably pushing the company
towards a public bailout. </p>
<p>
The YourBofA.com website was a collaboration between the <a
href="http://www.yeslab.org/">Yes Lab</a>, <a
href="http://ran.org/">Rainforest Action Network</a>, and <a
href="http://www.newbottomline.com/">New Bottom Line</a>. A
number of folks within <a href="http://occupywallst.org/">Occupy
Wall Street's</a> Alternative Banking working group also
helped with the site. Like other Yes Lab websites, this one is
hosted by <a href="https://mayfirst.org/5-1">May First / People
Link</a>. </p>
<p>The website comes at a time of rampant distrust of big banks.
Even top Federal Government regulators have recently called for
the end of "too big to fail." As Harvey Rosenblum, the head of
the Dallas Fed’s research department, <a
href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/banking-regulator-calls-for-end-of-too-big-to-fail/">recently
wrote</a>: "Many of the biggest banks have sputtered, their
balance sheets still clogged with toxic assets accumulated in
the boom years... creating a residue of distrust for the
government, the banking system, the Fed and capitalism itself."
</p>
<p>
"Most Americans, and even some regulators, see what's wrong with
the state of our banking system," said Price. "We have a real
opportunity to safely and proactively push <a
href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-20120314">this
company</a> towards managed bankruptcy and <a
href="http://www.breakupbofa.com/">create smaller</a>, more
responsive financial institutions that help American communities
rather than harm them."</p>
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