On 20 Jul, Black Unicorn wrote:

...

Note:

Adobe- owing to the kidnapping of its big wig some time ago- is very paranoid.

Please be aware and be cautious as they may be prone to overreact to taunting.

(Do not taunt happy-fun-acrobat).

This looks like a joke. If so, it is really hilarious, but otherwise sorry.

Unfortunately it's not.

On Sat, 21 Jul 2001, Morlock Elloi wrote:

So Adobe thugs will pour out of the building sprayng crowd with machine-gun fire ? Corporate commandos will make arrests and cart them to software sweatshops ?

What exactly peaceful banner-carrying demonstrators on the public grounds should be afraid of ?

The police, and possibly military presence, responding to Adobe executives panicked calls that they are "under attack by an armed mob of anarchists bent on the utter destruction of our building and grounds and possibly the murder of our employees and executives..." Adobe security guys behind a window on the third floor of the building, scanning the crowd with a high-resolution camera, and the $MILLIONS they are willing to spend to hire a private investigator to find out who each and every one of the people in the picture is so that police complaints can be filed against each and every one, and charges brought for criminal trespass, even if it takes months.... And of course the money spent tracking them all down will be on the bill of damages they try to recover.... Illegal "sweetheart deals" that have been worked out with police officials and/or private security whereby they've pretty much agreed in advance that if Adobe puts out the right codeword, a bunch of muscular men in riot gear will show up to HURT the "attackers" - this could involve the deployment of tear gas or pepper spray. Miscellaneous water cannon, rubber bullets, and, worst of all, thundering herds of lawyers both for attack and defense. I'm pretty sure attack dogs are effectively banned in California due to astronomical liability settlements, but otherwise you'd have to worry about that. Make no mistake, an american company with a really paranoid bent can make life sheer hell for any who have the temerity to show up protesting on its grounds. It costs them a lot of goodwill though -- if they pull out all the stops more than once every few years, it's going to seriously hurt their reputation and their business. I doubt that Adobe will go the whole route here: I bet they'll go as far as meeting the protesters with a full cordon of armed law officers, but if things stay peaceful, the two groups will probably be able to just stand a respectful distance apart and wave at each other politely. They'll probably scan the crowd with a high-res camera, but probably won't bother to file charges unless someone throws a rock or something. And we're not likely to see water cannon or pepper spray used unless someone actually gets inside one of the buildings. Bear