Since I’ve written regularly with a largely pro-copyright stance here (Britney Tattoo, King of Kings, Pop Culture, Heart/Source, more), I thought it would be fair to post this tattoo illustrating that there are certainly people who presumably disagree. This is on IAM:beauwulf and was done by Mike Richards of Pair-O-Dice Tattoo in my home town of Victoria, BC.
Oh, and if you have no idea what that is, it’s a Copyleft logo.
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
The following comments were imported from our old comment system:
Posted on 11-08-2005 16:14:19 by BLAST_420
why would someone get a tattoo that stupid, what nex a tattoo that says “dont pirate music”
Posted on 11-08-2005 16:33:07 by silver
Anti-copyright ideas are part of a philosophy that runs deeper than stealing music….
Posted on 11-08-2005 16:35:32 by Bill
Yeah, I think wearing the t-shirt is enough of an expression of my thoughts for me. But who am I to judge!?
Posted on 11-08-2005 16:41:58 by pathos
the tattoo artist didn’t have a very steady hand…
Posted on 11-08-2005 20:51:57 by eeeb
Freakin’ Sweet! Share On Brother!
Posted on 11-08-2005 21:55:31 by raindog_mx
why would someone get such a tatoo? because HE CANS and it’s cool to him and who are you to say it isn’t if it’s not on your body BLAST_420? why would someone as stupid as you should ever be conceived? go and find something else to opose elsewhere, something meaninful, like copyrights and not personal -and good- choices.
Posted on 11-08-2005 22:48:02 by aza
Who fuken cares WHY he get that tattoo its his body… Ime just kinda bumed that ive sold that shop TUNS of tattoo equipment and this is what i see done with my goodies. Im was a local Victorian too … oh well they can do what ever the fuk they want with my gear , they are clean and steril shop . Realy its none of my biz. i guess but WTF is what ime thinking.
Posted on 11-09-2005 10:42:41 by ian meyer
OMG
that is so freaking awesome.
i’m sitting here wearing one of the “your failed business model is not my problem…” (winged copyleft below) shirts ken from giant robot press sent me, and can’t get over this…
since i’m the guy who, seems like forever ago, sat down in front of photoshop for 15 minutes to create this logo.
ROCK ON BROTHER!!
Posted on 11-09-2005 10:53:38 by ian meyer
and one more thing, as for the comment at the top:
“Since I’ve written regularly with a largely pro-copyright stance here…”
Copyleft is not anti-copyright. Its supporting the right of rights-holders to provide their work under nontypical terms, such as creative commons licenses and similar. In fact, copyleft depends on the copyright system so rightsholders can retain ownership and determine what can or cannot be done with their work.
Where copyleft and copyright *do* stand at opposite ends of the spectrum is in their use. Copyright exists to restrict what people can do with a work, “don’t copy this,” “don’t republish this,” “don’t time-shift it from a DVD to your hard drive,” whereas copyleft stands to allow people to do more than average with a work, be it using it to create derivative works, as in the shirt I am wearing now, and often times to use it, but not for commercial use, or ensuring that it remains free (like the GNU General Public License for Open Source software–once the code is open, it can’t be closed)
As a proud copylefter, I recognize the rights of people to copyright their works, however, I support and encourage people to release works under a copyleft license schema.
Ian Meyer
[email protected]
Posted on 11-09-2005 20:15:47 by beauwulf
Just wanted to throw in my two cents worth on the copyright issue, but Ian covered it pretty well.
I strongly support the right of creative people to benefit from their work – whether that be finanically or just by enancing their reputation. However, the problem is that copyright law is being used by IP Barons (I made that up – deliberate analogy to “robber barons” of the past intended) as a weapon to defend their monopoly position. Organizations like RIAA and MPAA are not creative people, they’ve just bought the souls of few of them and made them obscenely rich, while the other 99.9% of creative people can’t afford to break into their high-stakes game. Technology is lowering the barriers, making it easier to create, to remix, to distribute & promote, and will require new ways of doing business. And the good ol’ boys don’t want none of that… That’s one opinion anyways.
If you create anything, or if you listen to music, read books, watch TV or movies… you need to care about this. I’d suggest the Electronic Frontier Foundation website http://www.eff.org for more information.
As for the quality of the ink work – first off, I have to admit I’m a terrible photographer. That was taken on a wide-angle macro setting from about 4″ away. The actual tattoo extends about 120 degrees around my arm so it’s quite distorted in the photo. I’m told that straight and parallel lines that close together on a curved surface are very hard to do, but think the unsteadiness is more a matter of how it healed than the artist’s hand – it looked clear and sharp the day it was done, and still looks great from anything more than a few inches away, so I’m satisfied.
Lastly, Ian, many thanks to you for creating _and sharing_ the logo. I got the T-shirt from giant robot too (had to have it!) and I love wearing it. People always stop me and ask what it’s about.
Posted on 11-09-2005 21:53:12 by quas
Dude, that is BRILLIANT. I bought the copyleft shirt after reading about it on BB a few months ago…but this takes it to a whole new level. 🙂
The best part is that I’m actually from Sooke. Glad to see there are like-minded people living around here. Long live copyleft!
Posted on 11-09-2005 22:29:43 by Snipe
I recall seeing that symbol on a Zeppelin at some point in history. I think it was part of the firefighting wars or something.
Posted on 11-13-2005 20:48:47 by ZEUS
on the subject of stealing art. i in the last couple of months designed a piece for a hair dresser to get tattooed, a anime like girl with massive scissors and a comb, she paid took it home her room mate loved it, being a hair dresser her self, asked if she could borrow the pictures so she could give an idea to her tattoo artist. when she brough back the picture she had it tattooed. the room mate felt so bad after a while and payed me to make a better one for the girl she stole it from.
now thats shes has had it for a while everytime she shows people, people respond “hey wasen’t that designed for your roomate?!” on top of that she had it done over her hip and 15 minutes into it the thru up, and every so offen during the tattoo she need to through up again… and again… and again.
The following comments were imported from our old comment system:
Posted on 11-08-2005 16:14:19 by BLAST_420
why would someone get a tattoo that stupid, what nex a tattoo that says “dont pirate music”
Posted on 11-08-2005 16:33:07 by silver
Anti-copyright ideas are part of a philosophy that runs deeper than stealing music….
Posted on 11-08-2005 16:35:32 by Bill
Yeah, I think wearing the t-shirt is enough of an expression of my thoughts for me. But who am I to judge!?
Posted on 11-08-2005 16:41:58 by pathos
the tattoo artist didn’t have a very steady hand…
Posted on 11-08-2005 20:51:57 by eeeb
Freakin’ Sweet! Share On Brother!
Posted on 11-08-2005 21:55:31 by raindog_mx
why would someone get such a tatoo? because HE CANS and it’s cool to him and who are you to say it isn’t if it’s not on your body BLAST_420? why would someone as stupid as you should ever be conceived? go and find something else to opose elsewhere, something meaninful, like copyrights and not personal -and good- choices.
Posted on 11-08-2005 22:48:02 by aza
Who fuken cares WHY he get that tattoo its his body… Ime just kinda bumed that ive sold that shop TUNS of tattoo equipment and this is what i see done with my goodies. Im was a local Victorian too … oh well they can do what ever the fuk they want with my gear , they are clean and steril shop . Realy its none of my biz. i guess but WTF is what ime thinking.
Posted on 11-09-2005 10:42:41 by ian meyer
OMG
that is so freaking awesome.
i’m sitting here wearing one of the “your failed business model is not my problem…” (winged copyleft below) shirts ken from giant robot press sent me, and can’t get over this…
since i’m the guy who, seems like forever ago, sat down in front of photoshop for 15 minutes to create this logo.
ROCK ON BROTHER!!
Posted on 11-09-2005 10:53:38 by ian meyer
and one more thing, as for the comment at the top:
“Since I’ve written regularly with a largely pro-copyright stance here…”
Copyleft is not anti-copyright. Its supporting the right of rights-holders to provide their work under nontypical terms, such as creative commons licenses and similar. In fact, copyleft depends on the copyright system so rightsholders can retain ownership and determine what can or cannot be done with their work.
Where copyleft and copyright *do* stand at opposite ends of the spectrum is in their use. Copyright exists to restrict what people can do with a work, “don’t copy this,” “don’t republish this,” “don’t time-shift it from a DVD to your hard drive,” whereas copyleft stands to allow people to do more than average with a work, be it using it to create derivative works, as in the shirt I am wearing now, and often times to use it, but not for commercial use, or ensuring that it remains free (like the GNU General Public License for Open Source software–once the code is open, it can’t be closed)
As a proud copylefter, I recognize the rights of people to copyright their works, however, I support and encourage people to release works under a copyleft license schema.
Ian Meyer
[email protected]
Posted on 11-09-2005 20:15:47 by beauwulf
Just wanted to throw in my two cents worth on the copyright issue, but Ian covered it pretty well.
I strongly support the right of creative people to benefit from their work – whether that be finanically or just by enancing their reputation. However, the problem is that copyright law is being used by IP Barons (I made that up – deliberate analogy to “robber barons” of the past intended) as a weapon to defend their monopoly position. Organizations like RIAA and MPAA are not creative people, they’ve just bought the souls of few of them and made them obscenely rich, while the other 99.9% of creative people can’t afford to break into their high-stakes game. Technology is lowering the barriers, making it easier to create, to remix, to distribute & promote, and will require new ways of doing business. And the good ol’ boys don’t want none of that… That’s one opinion anyways.
If you create anything, or if you listen to music, read books, watch TV or movies… you need to care about this. I’d suggest the Electronic Frontier Foundation website http://www.eff.org for more information.
As for the quality of the ink work – first off, I have to admit I’m a terrible photographer. That was taken on a wide-angle macro setting from about 4″ away. The actual tattoo extends about 120 degrees around my arm so it’s quite distorted in the photo. I’m told that straight and parallel lines that close together on a curved surface are very hard to do, but think the unsteadiness is more a matter of how it healed than the artist’s hand – it looked clear and sharp the day it was done, and still looks great from anything more than a few inches away, so I’m satisfied.
Lastly, Ian, many thanks to you for creating _and sharing_ the logo. I got the T-shirt from giant robot too (had to have it!) and I love wearing it. People always stop me and ask what it’s about.
Posted on 11-09-2005 21:53:12 by quas
Dude, that is BRILLIANT. I bought the copyleft shirt after reading about it on BB a few months ago…but this takes it to a whole new level. 🙂
The best part is that I’m actually from Sooke. Glad to see there are like-minded people living around here. Long live copyleft!
Posted on 11-09-2005 22:29:43 by Snipe
I recall seeing that symbol on a Zeppelin at some point in history. I think it was part of the firefighting wars or something.
Posted on 11-13-2005 20:48:47 by ZEUS
on the subject of stealing art. i in the last couple of months designed a piece for a hair dresser to get tattooed, a anime like girl with massive scissors and a comb, she paid took it home her room mate loved it, being a hair dresser her self, asked if she could borrow the pictures so she could give an idea to her tattoo artist. when she brough back the picture she had it tattooed. the room mate felt so bad after a while and payed me to make a better one for the girl she stole it from.
now thats shes has had it for a while everytime she shows people, people respond “hey wasen’t that designed for your roomate?!” on top of that she had it done over her hip and 15 minutes into it the thru up, and every so offen during the tattoo she need to through up again… and again… and again.
i hope this tattoo will get covered by a bowling ball. the design is fine but the work is BAD! the lines are inconsistant, the coloring isn’t filled all the way and the artist must have been hung over as it is all shaky. thanks for posting the picture. now I know who not to get a tattoo from.
i hope this tattoo will get covered by a bowling ball. the design is fine but the work is BAD! the lines are inconsistant, the coloring isn’t filled all the way and the artist must have been hung over as it is all shaky. thanks for posting the picture. now I know who not to get a tattoo from.