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Paris Censors Street Artist Who Criticized Anti-Piracy Law

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 01:31 AM PST

Ever since its introduction, French three-strikes law “Hadopi” has been a steady topic of controversy. When the French agency tasked with handling file-sharers’ copyright violations launched for example, its own logo was found to be infringing.

This week, another chapter was added to the list when Paris city employees censored the work of a prominent street artist. While the Hadopi office was not directly involved, the censored pieces of art are a protest against the much criticized law.

In an attempt to “clean up” the streets of Paris’ 13th district, city workers were ordered to remove political statements from art displayed on public walls. Among the targets were several creations by Finnish artist Sampsa, who painted dozens of anti-Hadopi statements across the city.

Below is one of the works, which displayed the text “The Blood Sucking Hadopi” alongside a kid being chased by a giant mosquito.

The original street art

The city workers decided that the text went too far and removed it in its entirety. The rest of the mutilated painting remains in place, although its original message has been completely lost.

The cleaned up version (via)

The irony of the city’s actions is that it has censored an artist who has spoken out against a law that is supposed to protect artists. Needless to say, the move was heavily criticized by many members of the public.

TF talked to Sampsa who is disappointed that his work was destroyed, but is also glad for the public support he’s received.

“Creating street art is simply a tool for activism. I am glad people in France are upset about what happened in Butte aux Cailles – it shows at least someone is paying attention to certain lines that shouldn't be crossed.”

For Sampsa this is not the first time that his work has been censored. The same happened last December when one of his pieces was supposed to go on display at the Museum of Modern Art and Design in Omsk, Siberia.

Sampsa’s painting featured Putin as a dwarf with the text "Little Brother is watching you," a message the United Russia Party took offense to.

Despite the setbacks Sampsa is not going to stop, on the contrary in fact. The French three-strikes law is about to be transformed into system where alleged file-sharers will receive automatic fines, something the artists is heavily protesting against.

“Now it is time to slide the conversation over to the next version of Hadopi that will almost certainly have a negative effect on the youth,” Sampsa tells TF.

“File sharing won't be made extinct by fines, nor by legislation – the French government can waste another few million euros on Lescure and his gang or face the problem head on. Solve file-sharing with direct artist funding. Create a model that the rest of the globe can use,” he adds.

The first piece of new anti-Hadopi work pictured below will hit the streets tonight. And while he’s at it Sampsa may restore some of the works the city “cleaned up” too.

Sampsa’s next work hits the streets today

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and VPN services.

BSA Offers Facebook Users Cash If They Rat On Software Pirates

Posted: 15 Feb 2014 09:21 AM PST

All the major software companies see piracy as a massive problem. Unlike the music and movie industries, however, they tend to focus their legal action more on the business side than on individual consumers.

Over the past two decades the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has represented major software companies, including Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle and Symantec, in their fight against under-licensed businesses.

This has resulted in raids on various companies, whose computers are often confiscated on the spot if the business owner fails to pay his or her dues. Some have described these practices as mafia-like, but the BSA believes they’re needed to stamp out piracy.

Recently, the BSA has upped the ante as they are now soliciting tips from the public about potentially infringing companies. While input from the public was always welcome, it’s the supporting PR-campaign that raises eyebrows.

The BSA is currently running an ad campaign on Facebook encouraging people to report piracy in return for a healthy reward. The example below shows how the group is trying to lure snitches with a ski-vacation.

BSA’s report piracy ad on Facebook

Those who click through to the campaign website and read the fine print will find out that BSA is not really offering a vacation. They do however, promise to send tipsters a cut of an eventual settlement they receive when they choose to pursue a lead in court.

This reward could reach $5000 for a settlement of $15,000 or a massive $200,000 for a single tip if BSA gets a settlement of over $3 million. The rewards in question are targeted at users from various countries, including the US, Australia, Canada and China.

To show people how easy it is to become an anti-piracy reporter the BSA also lists an audio interview with an informant on their site.

“I feel great [about reporting piracy] because it’s wrong for businesses to do stuff like that. I would do it again no matter what. It was very easy to report, you have nothing to worry about,” the informant says.

Sounds great doesn’t it?

Here at TorrentFreak we appreciate a nice vacation as well, so hereby we rat out the U.S. military for running unlicensed copies of Windows 7. We’re looking forward to our reward…

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and VPN services.

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