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illegal art is art that, according to this site, has sparked a law suit. examples are parodies of corporate logos, uses of trade marked charecters (like mickey or spiderman or barbie), and the like

Check out http://www.illegal-art.org/video/ for some good examples. Some are crap, some are funny, but I found in particular "Spin" a bit interesting.

"The conclusion is pretty clear as well, as seen from the decades following the passage of the 1909 and 1976 laws: the drastic expansions of copyright had little to do with increasing innovation in this country."

Disneyland Memorial Orgy by Wally Wood.

Coming from Denmark, we recently had discussions about our constitution, as many politicians are getting tired of trying to interprete what people wrote 150 years ago. In a tv-discussion, the danish nazi-leader Johnny Hansen were talking about his rights. He has the right to say that the holocaust didn't exists, since it is not a part of the danish constitution, but not allowed to use the english/american word "nigger" (can I actually?) since the constituion follows up on our former law against slavery and those conditions it was formed by.

I am for one a person who likes Jeffersons ideology, but I can also see how it has developed in the US among other countries in the world. Brian Springer's documentary shows this very nicely, eventhough from the start of the 90's, I haven't seen any shift in the american news-broadcast (*hint* Fox News patriotism).

Back to the original story: As being in Denmark, and we also have the law about free reply, shouldn't the law already be counting for newspapers online? We see this regulary in newspapers (we are sorry that we said something wrong in the last edition) and television (we are sorry that it was not the truth anyway) without consequences. Here you would complain to a commitee, and this will then send it further to the media, and request to broadcast/print it, not nesecerally (I can't spell that word!) in a prominent place, but at least close.

For the Internet, it would propably mean professional medias online, blogs that is regulary and creates influence in the society and companies in cases like the SCO that would attack a whole community.

(where is my sig? well it can still be compared to sex, I tell you!)

It reminds me of what a German film maker once said, during the 50's - that the Americans were colonizing their subconscious. That's what he wants to do: colonize our subconscious. Establish his tropes and "franchises," and that make sure that we depend only on him for them.

It is an idea that needs to be resisted. The people at Illegal Art have the right idea. It's important to counter the "artist's rights" rhetoric - which is a fair rhetoric insofar as artists do need support, even if the implications of the ownership model are grossly unfair - with the idea that we are all potentially artists, and that, since Homer, we all use reworked and reframed ideas.

do you remember what coffee was like in most of the US before Starbucks got there?

I was drinking coffee as good as the coffee I'm drinking today before I even heard of Starbucks. Mr. Coffee certainly did us a greater service than Starbucks did. Since drip coffeemakers came out, the only people I've seen using percolators are old people who are still paying rent on their phones.

There's a great art show in chicago right now that displaying a large quantity of audio, visual and standard art mediums that challenge copywrite as we know it. Many of the peices have been sued into submission until now. More info here and here

I went to the show's opening last night and I would highly recommend it, some of the bands will be playing live on feb 7th and 8th with an intense panel debate about copywrite with speakers like Lawrence Lessig and dj spooky on the 15th. The show will then be moving onto San Francisco.

"When Noel Tolentino finished the first issue of his zine Bunnyhop, he sent a copy to Simpsons creator Matt Groening, along with a gushing fan letter. For the magazine's cover, Tolentino had used Binky from Groening's Life in Hell comic, and he assumed his hero would appreciate the homage. Shortly thereafter, Tolentino and co-publisher Seth Robson received a cease-and-desist letter from Groening's lawyers. Lacking the resources to fight, the Bunnyhop publishers were forced to destroyed the covers on all remaining copies. Although Groening personally apologized to Tolentino for the suit, he later defended his actions in a Mother Jones interview (May 1999), saying, "If I don't vigorously pursue my copyright, then other people can steal it." Groening did not comment on The Simpsons' habit of parodying everything from A Clockwork Orange to The Cosby Show. "

Why Matt, Why?

www.illegal-art.org

It was done by Phil Patiris and you can find a clip of it at the Illegal Art webage. Highly recommended. Read the sites legal agreement if you have the time; all is not as it seems. It's a good site, containing lot's of things that people have tried to ban or surpress over the years.

Interesting that the clip of Ted Koppel in which he talks about wishing "all our Muslim viewers a happy Ramadan" doesn't include the full quote, which ended with something along the lines of "We do want to be politically correct, don't we?" The full clip is available in this amazing "illegal" video Spin
at illegal-art.org, where incidentally you can download other illegal audio & video.

Secondly, Steve Allen was a genius.

Interesting that the clip of Ted Koppel in which he talks about wishing "all our Muslim viewers a happy Ramadan" doesn't include the full quote, which ended with something along the lines of "We do want to be politically correct, don't we?" The full clip is available in this amazing "illegal" video Spin
at illegal-art.org, where incidentally you can download other illegal audio & video.

Secondly, Steve Allen was a genius.

What is it with the (seemingly) growing trend of just pasting in the URL, rather than spending the 4 seconds required to make a real, working LINK ?!

Wasn't the whole point of hyperlinking that we wouldn't have to know the underlying mechanism to retrieve the document?

Look, when this website goes all crazy and destroys your computer, kills your pet, sleeps with your significant other, digs up all your old poetry and laughs and laughs, then calls up your friends and reads them all those really embarrassing parts out of your journal, like when you said you were "destined for beauty" or some shit like that, we make no guarantees and will simply join with everyone and laugh at your sorry ass, because damn, there's no freaking warranty here. Get it? No warranty. None. At all.

Look, when this website goes all crazy and destroys your computer, kills your pet, sleeps with your significant other, digs up all your old poetry and laughs and laughs, then calls up your friends and reads them all those really embarrassing parts out of your journal, like when you said you were "destined for beauty" or some shit like that, we make no guarantees and will simply join with everyone and laugh at your sorry ass, because damn, there's no freaking warranty here. Get it? No warranty. None. At all.

Have you seen This?