Oh what a tangled web: "Two giant companies are struggling to shut down parody websites that portray them unfavorably, interrupting internet use for thousands in the process, and filing a lawsuit that pits the formidable legal department of PR giant Burson-Marsteller [3] against a freshman at Hampshire College," writes Paul Hardin (the freshman in question). It all began when The Yes Men [4], a group of activist pranksters, began to impersonate representatives of the World Trade Organization and found that corporate lawyer types actually couldn't tell the difference [5] when they gave speeches advocating vote-selling, banning siestas in Spain, and Nazi economics [6] - or even when someone gave a talk wearing a golden leotard with a three-foot phallus [7]. Now the parodies have begun to proliferate, with Dow Chemical [8] taking possession of a fake apology for Bhopal [9], and Burson-Marsteller discovering that Hardin owns the domain name to bursonmarsteller.com [10].