Poverty pimps and well known corporate slime Atos Origin have taken their harassment of disabled people one step further by using flaky legal threats to censor and close down websites which have been critical of them.

At least three websites have now been hit by legal threats attempting to censor online criticism of the company.

The CarerWatch forum, which is an online meeting place for hundreds of disabled people and carers has been taken offline by the hosting company after legal threats made by Atos Origin regarding unspecified comments made on the forum.   Atos Origin’s involvement in the condemn Government’s notorious health and disability testing has made them a target of fury amongst many disabled people, which has led to a fierce campaigning against them both on and offline.  Atos are fighting back with the CarerWatch forum being only the latest website hit by Atos legal threats.

In May this year the Afteratos website was threatened with legal action over the use of their corporate logo in the spoof design above.  Atos also threatened the site over their use of the phrase ‘Atos Kills’.  Then last week Atos turned their attention to the aptly named ‘Atos Register of Shame’ claiming that:

“In particular we draw your attention to Atos Register of Shame which is purporting to be a register of health-care professional employees who have allegedly performed substandard medical assessments.

“This is a direct attack on Atos and the name of the website in and of itself is implying that Atos carries on its business in a manner which is shameful.”

Which is perfectly apt since the way Atos carries out it’s business is indeed shameful.  Atos have come under heavy criticism from disability campaigners . charities and increasingly the medical profession for their administration of the government’s Work Capability Assessment and decisions made based on Atos’ computer system has tragically already led to sick and disabled people committing suicide.  The Guardian reveals that 12 doctors are currently being investigated by the BMA over their treatment of vulnerable people and may face being struck off.

Enough is enough – it’s time to call on the trusty internet to resist this intimidation and harassment of disabled people and supporters wanting to speak out against this company.  Please tweet, blog, share – use the image above, or the phrase ‘atos kills’, let’s get spartacus style on the bastards.  If tweeting use the hashtags #atoskills #atos #atosorigin to let them know we’re talking about them.  Please stick up links to anti-atos posts in the comments and we’ll try get a list together.

A National Day of Action Against Atos Origin has also been called for the 3oth September, continuing the protests against this organisation have seen scores of demonstrations outside their premises across the UK.  In London demonstrators will gather outside the BMJ Recruitment Fair in Islington where Atos will be hoping to recruit new staff.  A leaflet reminding future Atos staff what they may be getting themselves into is below.