Ethical virus

The artistic group from Madrid "mmmm..." has fashioned the virus "Amazonas", that "eats" pixels on the screens of infected online computers at the same rate as the Amazon rainforests are destroyed, using an iterative fractal formula. The formula’s numeric parameters are updated via the Internet using data from a server that calculates the rate of deforestation by analyzing images of the Amazon captured by the Landsat 7 satellite every 16 days.

The virus, spread via e-mail, is available only on a video format, since the production and diffusion of a computer virus is illegal.

The project has been designed for the Barcelona Fórum 2004 and will be displayed there at the end of this week to make visitors reflect on the speed and seriousness of the deforestation in Amazonia.

From El Mundo.