that year, mayor rudy giuliani lobbied to move the ceremony to new york city, but san francisco mayor willie brown convinced the organization to remain in san francisco by promising city support. the event was noted for the famous incident in which a representative of jodi.org, which had won in the arts category, called the event participants "ugly corporate sons-of-bitches" in his acceptance speech and tossed his trophy to the audience. in 1999 the webby awards asked pricewaterhousecoopers to help it tabulate and ensure security for the "people's voice" winners, chosen by online voting.