ILOVEYOU: 25th Anniversary
On May 4 (Sun), we celebrate the 25th anniversary of ILOVEYOU or The Love Bug, the infamous computer worm that caused billions of dollars of damage worldwide in the year 2000. Created by Philippine hacker Onel de Guzman, the virus was initially developed with the purpose of stealing internet access passwords to distribute connectivity for users who couldn’t afford it. Among those that were affected were large corporations such as AT&T, Ford Motor Company, including big banks and schools, international agencies such as The International Monetary Fund, and US federal agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Department of Defense. “Here is a Filipino genius who put the Philippines on the world map,” wrote a columnist from The Philippine Star. “...who has proven that the Filipino has the creativity and ingenuity to turn, for better or for worse, the world upside down.” Twenty five years later, the legacy of the ILOVEYOU virus lives on, as a matrix through which contemporary media culture continues to develop, never historically complete: from the digital divide and software monopolies, to the affective networks and figures that shape the Internet. What happens when we stop the everyday-computing and business-as-usual? ILOVEYOU: 25th Anniversary summons the present futures where the blue screen of death is imminently programmable. A three-hour radio special broadcasting on Manila Community Radio and Radio Alhara, we talk to the tech saboteurs, trade unionists, and cultural workers proving promise that the best hacks are still to come.
This installation is an excerpt of the first hour of the radio special, where host and programmer Mac Andre Arboleda together with The UP Internet Freedom Network glitched together interviews with Nexperia Workers' Union, BPO Industry Employees Network, Kiat Kiat Projects, Miriyam Aouragh, Computer Professionals' Union, Che Tagyamon & Joanne Cesario with field recordings of the recent Labor Day protests in Manila, Philippines.
