Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Amazon Fights Piracy Tool, Creators Call It a Parody

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-was-uh-uh-art-yeah-that's-the-ticket dept.

jamie points out an interesting story which started a few days ago, when a pair of students from the Netherlands released a Firefox add-on which integrated links to the Pirate Bay on Amazon product pages. Customers who had the add-on would see a large "Download 4 Free" button next to items which were also available on the Pirate Bay. The add-on quickly drew notice, and the creators were hit with a take-down notice and threats of litigation from Amazon. Now, the students have removed the add-on, and they are claiming an unusual defense: "'Pirates of the Amazon' was an artistic parody, part of our media research and education at the Media Design M.A. course at the Piet Zwart Institute of the Willem de Kooning Academy Hogeschool Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was a practical experiment on interface design, information access and currently debated issues in media culture. We were surprised by the attentions and the strong reactions this project received. Ultimately, the value of the project lies in these reactions. It is a ready-made and social sculpture of contemporary internet user culture."

6 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Defense for what? by Joe+U · · Score: 5, Funny

    Conspiracy to commit contributory copyright infringement.

    So, yeah, it's a death penalty case.

  2. Re:Defense for what? by Alsee · · Score: 5, Funny

    What is illegal about this?

    I believe that would be the crime of pissing off a corporation with enough money to rape your pathetic ass in court.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  3. Re:Defense for what? by martin-boundary · · Score: 5, Funny

    Amazon: "Your honour, these kids are guilty of financial terrorism!"
    Judge: "Kids, you're guilty, and I sentence you to receive 700 million dollars from Amazon"
    Kids: "Woohoo!"
    Amazon: "That's no fair!"
    Judge: "Oh oh, it's not working. 800 million!"
    Kids: "Woohoo!"
    Amazon: "Gaah!"

  4. Shame... by nigel999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Before it was taken down, I managed to download a pair of wool slippers, a Brompton folding bike and a sweet KitchenAid stand mixer. Thanks, piratebay!

  5. You're missing the point... (was: Re:Chin deep) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    All it takes to trigger the download is One-Click (TM)...

    The plugin authors did not obtain a license to use Amazon's One-Click patent, now did they? ;-)

  6. Re:Defense for what? by dword · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great, now /. is guilty of conspiracy to copyright infringement by offering a link to a web page offering a link to a .torrent file offering links to trackers offering addresses of people that offer to share an application that offers links to web pages offering links to torrents offering links to trackers offering addresses of people that offer to share copyrighted content with you.

    There, I said it!