Wal-Mart Parody Site Censored by DMCA

davidwr writes "Wal-Mart used the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to temporarily shut down a university student's parody of the Wal-Mart Foundation." The story's details are also available via BusinessWeek. From the article: "Papasian launched the Web site April 16 for an art class at Carnegie Mellon University called 'Parasitic Media.' The class teaches students about the political uses of satire in the media. He acknowledged using Wal-Mart's graphics on his Web site but said he believed he could use the images as part of a parody."

Re:This is waaaaay overblown...

[meringuoid]

I say, "its an art class, how about making PARODIES of the IMAGES too?"

WalMart don't like his site using their graphics? Well, I'm sure some good Slashdotter will soon post a link to the image he should put up instead... I'm sure WalMart won't like their customers inadvertently staring into the Great Gaping Hole O' Horror, but hey, it's not their image, so screw 'em!

Re:This is waaaaay overblown...

[Eradicator2k3]

he starts using "CENSORED BY THE DMCA" so we'll all cry fowl

Uhmm....Chicken! Albatross! Swallow (African and European)! Emu! Canary! Oh, you meant foul.

Re: Just call it MalWart

[panda]

I prefer to call it WalFart, myself.

Shopping at Wal Mart...

[Le Marteau]

... always makes me feel cheap and sleazy. Like it's something I shouldn't be doing. One of the many reasons I like shopping at Wal Mart.

Re:Ahhh, good old fair-use, remember the days?

[meringuoid]

Look, don't complain about the corporations. The King, who is appointed by divine right, grants the corporations land, and in exchange they provide him with fighting men in wartime. The corporations in turn grant land to executives, who (in theory) turn out to fight when called upon. In practice, the executives then rent out the land to poor tenant farmers, the serfs, who not only actually do the fighting in wartime but also work the land, paying a portion of their income to the landlord and the Church and keeping back enough to support themselves and their family in moderate means.

You see how the system works to everyone's benefit? Everything fits together tidily. It's called feuda^H^H^H^Hcapitalism, and it's a good thing, despite what Comrade Tyler and his gang of pinko subversives might have you believe.

It isn't Boring Boring

[PIPBoy3000]

Well, it's not a particularly good parody perhaps. If I were doing it, I'd subtly change the images for amusement value.

My latest favorite parody is Boring Boring [boringboring.org], a parody of Boing Boing [boingboing.net].

How about we just give him a C+ for his school assignment and keep the lawyers out of it?

Re:This is waaaaay overblown...

[pete-classic]

As it turns out, the distinction between foul and fowl is an albatross for many.

-Peter

Re: Just call it MalWart

[saintp]

I prefer to call it WalFart, myself.

"We smell for less"?

Re:It isn't Boring Boring

[VivianC]

If his teacher has any sense, (s)he will sit the boy down and explain the tricky legal issues involved in doing a parody, and how to do it right.

Sure because I always seek legal advice from art school teachers. You might have found a group that knows less about the law than most Slashdot posters.

SARCASM (for the humor impaired)

[nutrock69]

- And rightly so. His First Amendment rights are being violated.

Didn't you hear? The US government has officially declared that the first amendment must have been a "typo". They argue that it would have been easily edited out if they had used a program like Microsoft Word, but it wasn't so easy to edit once they had it down using ink and paper...

Re:Not to mention that Gangsta's paradise.

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is taking from whom here? Of course, I'm sure Stevie was duly compensated.

Maybe they were hoping he wouldn't see it.

Re:Microsoft Wipe (bad taste warning)

[Farmer Tim]

If Microsoft made toilet paper, it wouldn't actually remove anything but merely spread it around until everything is covered with a uniform layer of feces. Just like Internet Explorer...

Let's all sing along...

[argent]

D-M-C-A... just watch out for the D-M-C-A [whichwayup.org]

Young man, young man, are you listening to me?
Young man, young man, even this parody is illegal.

Re:Ahhh, good old fair-use, remember the days?

[Spazmania]

I am never surprised when I see people falling for direct parody.

As the maintainer of whitehouse.net I can speak to this. You'd be amazed how many irate letters I get about Bush's proposal to paint the whitehouse green.

http://www.whitehouse.net/index1.html [whitehouse.net]

Re: Just call it MalWart

[frantzdb]

If you do that, you can use the DMCA. If they think MalWart has anything to do with WalMart, then they circumvented your encryption scheme.