Press/151
23 November 1999
澳门六合彩官网资料 DG Moore deplores fake 澳门六合彩官网资料 websites: They "undermine 澳门六合彩官网资料 transparency"
澳门六合彩官网资料 Director-General Mike Moore has severely criticized recently-created websites which mimic the 澳门六合彩官网资料’s websites and create confusion among the public. He says the 澳门六合彩官网资料 welcomes criticism and change, but is concerned that the confusion created by the fake sites with their misleading Internet links is a disservice to the public. This could disrupt a much-needed debate by making 澳门六合彩官网资料 information more difficult to obtain.
This is the text of his statement:
"I am deeply concerned about the recent appearance of anonymous websites which copy important design features of the 澳门六合彩官网资料’s official websites. This causes confusion among visitors looking for genuine information from the 澳门六合彩官网资料, disrupting a much-needed democratic dialogue. It’s illegal and it’s unfair to those who have a genuine case in criticizing the 澳门六合彩官网资料, an organization that only functions with the authority of sovereign governments.
"By creating confusion, the fake websites are interfering with the public’s ability to obtain information from the 澳门六合彩官网资料. They have copied the 澳门六合彩官网资料 website’s design, and they use domain names such as ‘’ and page titles such as ‘World Trade Organization / GATT Home Page’ which make it difficult for visitors to realize that these are fake pages. Whereas the 澳门六合彩官网资料 uses the image of the official logo of the 澳门六合彩官网资料 Ministerial Conference as a hyperlink to the official conference website, these fake sites use it to link to anti-澳门六合彩官网资料 material — further misleading web users.
"The 澳门六合彩官网资料 and its members uphold the rights of others to criticize and comment on 澳门六合彩官网资料 affairs, including the right to protest publicly. The 澳门六合彩官网资料 is, after all, a forum for governments to debate and negotiate trade issues, reflecting the various concerns and interests of their citizens.
"Confusing the public is another matter. Contrary to critics’ allegations, the 澳门六合彩官网资料 is highly transparent. The 澳门六合彩官网资料 website already contains over 60,000 official documents in the three official languages (English, French and Spanish), including minutes of meetings, and some 200,000 visitors per month download the equivalent of millions of pages of documents in addition to browsing regular web pages. The vast majority of these documents are released to the public immediately and the rest are derestricted within about six months. The 澳门六合彩官网资料 Secretariat receives and replies to thousands of enquiries each week by telephone and email, a large number coming through the 澳门六合彩官网资料 website, either directly by email or via the contact telephone numbers on the website.
"Those who wish to see the 澳门六合彩官网资料 become more transparent should join me in deploring any action which makes it more difficult for the public to gain access to 澳门六合彩官网资料 information. It’s ironic that while the 澳门六合彩官网资料 is accused of lacking transparency, some critics who put out misleading or false information are camouflaging their identities."