It's not yet clear who perpetrated the hoax announcing that the Chamber of Commerce had changed its position on climate change. (It hasn't, and remains opposed to serious efforts to deal with the problem.)
But some evidence points to the Yes Men, a group of activists known for similar stunts.
An email address attached to the domain name registration for the website hosting the fake press release has also been identified in online postings as being tied to a November 2008 hoax which the Yes Men played a role in, involving handing out fake copies of the New York Times announcing falsely that the Iraq War had ended.
The Chamber told TPMmuckraker it doesn't know who was behind the hoax, and is looking into it.
Neither of the Yes Men's two principals, Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos, responded immediately to requests for comment from TPMmuckraker.
Late Update: A spokeswoman for Avaaz, an international activist group, told TPMmuckraker that the Yes Men were indeed behind the stunt, but did not elaborate. She gave us the number for "Erica Avidus", the Chamber spokeswoman who appears not to exist. Earlier, an Avaaz administrative staffer had told TPMmuckraker that Avaaz's "Action Factor" had been behind the stunt. So right now, we're putting our money on a joint project of Avaaz and the Yes Men. But we still don't know for sure.

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Cool Blue Reason
October 19, 2009 12:48 PM
My immediate thought was, "The Yes Men." It even more strongly resembles the stunt wherein they managed to pose as a Dow Chemical spokesperson live on the BBC, and announce that the company was going to provide billions in compensation to victims of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India.
It's a great sort of theater, as it forces the company / organization to announce, "No, we are still dragging our knuckles on this issue. Sorry for the confusion."
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again
October 19, 2009 12:55 PM
I love "The Yes Men." I missed seeing them speak when they were here (their film screened right after the film William Kunstler's daughters made about him "Disturbing the Universe", which was great.)
If it was them, salud!
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Cool Blue Reason
October 19, 2009 1:02 PM in reply to again
No doubt in my mind at this point -- after reading the fake news release and prepared remarks announcing the Chamber's 180 on climate legislation, it comes across as vintage Yes Men.
Well done, guys.
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dairyfarmer
October 19, 2009 1:09 PM
Brilliant, in that it highlighted not only the Chamber's opposition, but also Reuters' (and other MSM outlets) practice of simply printing press releases, rather than doing any real reporting.
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Measure for Measure
October 19, 2009 1:58 PM
Great prank. I liked the tipoffs: the Chamber reverses its position and has decided it wants *stronger* climate protection than the existing cap and trade legislation. Oh and "...we also expect to reevaluate our relationship with other members [of the Chamber] - who continue opposing climate change legislation, or who stymie progress through greenwashing and other stalling tactics." Good times.
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