Saturday, 27 August 2011

Crippen's Cartoon: Atos - the facts.


Posted: 26 Aug 2011 06:32 PM PDT
Cameron is handing over sacks of money to a frenchman wearing a black
 beret and with a string of onions around his neck. On the wall behind 
the frenchman is a large sign that says ‘Atos’. Cameron is saying: “So 
to speed up the process, we’ll get you to do the appeals as well!”
Posted: 26 Aug 2011 07:25 AM PDT
Cross posted from benefitclaimantsfightback
The Carer Watch forums forced offline by Atos Origin are still not back 
despite Atos claiming to be willing to negotiate. It now appears that 
volunteer-run online meeting place for disabled people and their carers, 
they have deemed to be ‘libellous’.
This is the third website run by disabled activists and supporters 
which has been closed down by legal threats from IT company 
Atos Origin, despite no evidence that they have ever sought any 
redress via a court order.  In previous cases Atos have objected 
to parodies of their company logo (legal in many countries and a 
grey area in UK law) as well as the phrase ‘atos kills’ and the name 
of the Atos Register of Shame website (now back!).
In this latest development Atos have closed Carer Watch without 
even specifying which content they found libellous.  This is a 
worrying precedent and should concern all who use the internet 
as an alternative source of news.  It now seems as if any website 
even vaguely critical of Atos can face having their site taken offline 
after legal threats to their server/hosting company.
This vicious attack is an attempt to silence disabled people from talking 
about their experiences of Atos’ disability assessments, which have led 
to thousands of sick and disabled people being wrongly stripped of vital 
benefits.  This is all happening against the backdrop of a major Atos 
Corporation rebrand.  Atos have a new logo, revamped website, new 
facebook pages and appear to have adopted a more aggressive 
approach to promoting themselves online.  As they ironically will be 
managing IT systems for the paralympic games it is little wonder they 
want to hide the true face of their company – an organisation that 
has harrassed and bullied disabled people into suicide.
How to help
Since Atos seem so precious about their logo then online activists have 
been helping with their rebranding by suggesting a more honest corporate 
identity (see pics attached).  If you have a blog, website or facebook 
page please republish the images, or come up with your own, in solidarity 
with the websites already closed.  It is vital that every time Atos try to 
silence us we shout louder.  The internet is good at that kind of thing.
Atos’ new facebook page can be found 
at: http://www.facebook.com/Atos?sk=wall comments aren’t staying 
up long, but there is a list of alternative Atos facebook pages to join on 
the left.
Please tweet and retweet about this story, using the hashtags #atos 
#atoskills #atosblog
Atos can be contacted on 020 7830 4444, ask for James Loughrey.
Finally please support and promote the
next National Day of Action Against Atos on the 30th September.  
Organise locally or join us in London outside the BMJ Recruitment 
Fair at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

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